Yarra Valley Railway

About

The Yarra Valley Railway is a heritage railway operating on a section of the former Healesville railway which operated between Lilydale and Healesville in the Yarra Valley area northeast of Melbourne, Australia.

The Lilydale-Melbourne railway was extended from Lilydale to Yarra Flats (now known as Yarra Glen ) on the 15 May 1888, with intermediate stations at Coldstream and Yering. Part of the structure included a long timber viaduct with 502 openings near Yarra Glen, spanning the Yarra River and the adjacent flood plains. The extension of the line from Yarra Glen to Healesville required a 1 in 40 (2.5%) climb into a 154.4 metre tunnel, with a corresponding descent at nearly the same grade. The Healesville Station opened on 1 March 1889 with an intermediate station at Tarrawarra.

Traffic on the line included timber, livestock, milk and dairy products. Early timetables included regular goods services specifically for transporting milk.

The last regular steam passenger service was hauled in August 1964. From this time until closure of the line in 1980 passenger services were run using Rail Motors, initially with Walker railmotors but due to degrading track quality the Walkers were replaced by Diesel Electric Railmotors (DERMs) from 1978 onwards. After 9 December 1980 no services operated beyond Coldstream and the Healesville-Coldstream section of the line was officially closed to all traffic on 10 March 1983. The Healesville Railway Cooperative was established in 1984 to reopen the line and in 1985 was granted an 'Order In Council' for this section by the Victorian State Government to operate the line as a tourist railway. It was partially reopened as far as Yarra Glen for tourist charter services in 1986 following major bridgework. However, these services ceased by 1990 when the Healesville Railway Cooperative merged with the Yarra Valley Tourist Railway, who began running trolley services on the Healesville-Yarra Glen section.

During the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009 Yarra Glen station came under ember attack and two timber trestle bridges near Tarrawarra were burnt down in a fast-moving grass fire.

Following a track renewal and bridge reconstruction campaign, on 17 July 2010 the official launch of the Walker Railmotor service occurred with the first passenger train service to leave Healesville Railway Station in over 30 years. Mechanical issues cancelled services for most of February 2026., resulting in the YVR announcing the cessation of all passenger services until further notice. This pause in operations would allow the YVR to focus on rollingstock and track restoration, with a completion date yet to be determined.

The Yarra Valley Railway runs a railmotor service from Healesville station to a point near the historic tunnel at Tarrawarra. Trains run on Sundays and public holidays, and some Saturdays, crossing the Watts River and travelling under the Donovans Road overbridge.

The railway is rebuilding the 5-mile-48-chain (9.0 km) section from that temporary terminus to Yarra Glen station. That involves the reconstruction of Yarra Glen and Tarrawarra stations, and the replacement of 14 timber trestle bridges within that section.

In February 2026, the Yarra Valley Railway announced the cessation of all passenger services until further notice. The railway said the move would allow its team to focus on the restoration of the track to Tarrawarra and Yarra Glen, as well as rolling stock refurbishment.

The railway is in possession of a number of locomotives and carriages, including the following:

The Yarra Valley Railway currently runs on a section of track from Healesville to the Tarrawarra Tunnel. The rest of the line between the stop board outside the Tarrawarra Tunnel exit and Yarra Glen is currently being restored.

Panoramic shot of Healesville Station with the railmotor 22RM sitting in the platform