Walhalla Goldfields Railway

About

The Walhalla Goldfields Railway is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge tourist railway located in the Thomson River and Stringers Creek valleys in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, near the former gold-mining town and tourist destination of Walhalla.

Main article: Walhalla railway line The Walhalla railway line was the last of four experimental narrow-gauge lines of the Victorian Railways. The Moe-Walhalla railway commenced construction in 1904, but was not completed until 1910. The railway was expected to be a boon for Walhalla but by the time it reached the town the gold had mostly run out, with the final mines closing only a few years later.

After the closure of the Walhalla mines, substantial timber traffic was carried from saw-mills around Erica until the late 1940s. Goods and passenger traffic declined, with the railway closed in sections from 1944 with the final section from Moe to Erica closed on 25 June 1954, with the last train operating four days later. The tracks and buildings were removed by 1960, leaving only the roadbed and a number of bridges.

The former station building at Walhalla was re-located to the Melbourne suburban station of Hartwell in 1938. The centre span of the National Estate listed Thomson River Railway Bridge had originally been sourced from a road bridge over the Murray River at Tocumwal, before being used for the narrow gauge line.

The railway is a key tourist attraction for Walhalla. The Walhalla Goldfields Railway operates regular tourist services between Thomson and Walhalla stations, using diesel locomotives.

Trains run on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays departing Walhalla at 10 am, 12 pm and 1.30 pm (with no 1.30 pm service on Wednesdays or from June to August). During school holidays trains operate up to three services daily. Passengers may book return or one-way trips. As of January 2026, online tickets must be purchased by 8 a.m. on the day of travel.

The train journey begins in the Walhalla Heritage Precinct, travelling through the station yard between Stringers Creek and the cliff-face that underpins the Happy-Go-Lucky Road. The first kilometre and a half is almost entirely built over six large trestle bridges that criss-cross Stringers Creek Gorge in an effort to find anchorage for each bridge abutment.

The train winds its way downhill through Stringers' Gorge and across the historic Thomson River Bridge to arrive at Thomson Station. Visitors have time to explore the area before returning to Walhalla.

Before the successful Walhalla Goldfields Railway, a number of separate endeavours were made to preserve and operate parts of the Walhalla line.

The first of these was in 1950 when Clement R. W. Meadmore, the pioneer of what is now the Diamond Valley Railway in Eltham, Victoria, attempted to restore part of the line at Walhalla. Legally it could not operate as a railway, but a tramway was deemed acceptable, so in March 1951 he and his group started clearing undergrowth and landslides to restore the alignment through Stringers Gorge. They also arranged purchase of some unpowered and powered trolleys, including one fitted with blades at one end to help clear the line. This clearing of the track included cutting up the log that had speared across the railway at Thomson station. The group considered purchasing the Forest Commission's Climax locomotive from Erica or an ex- West Melbourne Gasworks engine which had been offered to the group for £ 100. However, flooding of Stringers Creek in June 1952 washed logs from sawmills downstream, smashing into and destroying trestle bridges and ending the project.

In 1959 Walhalla resident Bill Ferris had purchased his ex-Melbourne Gasworks locomotive 986 Carbon to the shed at Walhalla and restored it to working order, with a small circle of track built in the middle of town. In 1961 the railways refused to allow him to operate the engine on the Walhalla line, and he ended up selling the locomotive to the Frankston Whistle Stop amusement park.

That park was owned by Jack Griffith and operated from the 1966 to 1974 with about 0.75 mi (1.21 km) of track, among a range of other amusements. Most of those assets were sent to the Caribbean Gardens after the park closed, while the locomotive went on to the Puffing Billy Railway, where it is now an exhibit at the Menzies Creek museum. The park had featured a two-thirds scale replica of Walhalla station, and along with the locomotive there had been a carriage aesthetically similar to the Victorian Railways' NBH carriages, but painted yellow and with an open clerestory in the centre of the arch roof.

By the 1960s Walhalla's population had fallen to about 30 residents, and the area around Stringers Gorge was practically a Ghost town. The Star Hotel had burned down in 1951, the local school closed in 1965, and in 1973 the population was less than twenty people. The town did not have an electricity supply, being reliant on gas bottles, and there was no reticulated water supply either.

A few years after the departure of Carbon to the Frankston Whistle Stop Amusement Park, former Victorian Railways driver Ron Kain purchased a different former Melbourne Gasworks locomotive of the same design, number 861 John Benn. Kain moved to Walhalla in 1968 and established the Walhalla & Thompson River Steam Tramway. His locomotive followed in 1969, while in the meantime receiving donations of 45 lb/yd (22 kg/m) rails from Geelong 's Fyansford Cement Works Railway.

Kain had a number of structures built in the town, including houses and a new brick railway station in Walhalla yard. Furthermore, the company took on assorted contracting and transport jobs within the town in an attempt to raise funds for the line's restoration. Aesthetically, the company used styles intentionally counter to those of the Victorian Railways, drawing inspiration from American themes. The Coach House was built through 1968-1972 using recycled building materials as accommodation for volunteers who would help reconstruct and operate the new tramway.

Later, Kain also purchased some 60 lb/yd (30 kg/m) rails, a TACL and abandoned former NQ trucks from Erica, van 8NU from Moyhu, and a second, Fowler steam locomotive from Mount Morgan, Queensland which had originally worked on the Big Pats Creek Tramway in Warburton, Victoria. The engine John Benn was restored to operating condition in late 1973, being heavily rebuilt to an American-style 2-4-2ST arrangement with saddle tank and large wooden pilot, painted blue and renamed Helen.

Trains operated in Walhalla yard and along the former run-away siding at the Up end of Walhalla station from 1974 to 1981; the intention was to continue restoring the line towards Thomson, but the damaged Stringers Creek trestle bridges were never repaired.

Interpersonal conflicts led to the group gradually disbanding. The engine was moved on in 1977, and the Tramway closed for good in 1982, with all the rolling stock sold to Colin Rees of the CRT Group. All the remaining railway assets were sold in 1983. The locomotive has since been repainted red and is now named J. C. Rees. As of 2009 it worked on the Puffing Billy Railway, making use of its larger cab for Footplate Experience Trains between Emerald and Cockatoo, while the NU van's body was sighted on the underframe of 110NQR at Emerald in November 1997, and it was registered as "untrafficable" on the Railway's books as of 1 November 2009. It is not clear which NQ wagons were taken from Erica or where they ended up after the W&TRST ceased operating, but it is at least probable that some made it to the Puffing Billy Railway; particularly as some that were listed by that Railway as Off Register or Untrafficable, as of 2009, can be matched to either the wagons sold from Moe station to the Forests Commission in September 1954, or to wagons sold to unidentified buyers the following month; any of the wagons from either of those batches could have potentially continued on to the W&TRST, and from there to the Puffing Billy Railway.

A handful of buildings from the W&TRST era still exist in Walhalla, following preservation efforts in the late 1970s, a short-lived gold mining project in the 1980s, and the arrival of electricity to the town in 1998. The former Cook's Cottage hotel has been renamed a few times and as of 2012 was operating as The Coach House.

The first of these was in 1950 when Clement R. W. Meadmore, the pioneer of what is now the Diamond Valley Railway in Eltham, Victoria, attempted to restore part of the line at Walhalla. Legally it could not operate as a railway, but a tramway was deemed acceptable, so in March 1951 he and his group started clearing undergrowth and landslides to restore the alignment through Stringers Gorge. They also arranged purchase of some unpowered and powered trolleys, including one fitted with blades at one end to help clear the line. This clearing of the track included cutting up the log that had speared across the railway at Thomson station. The group considered purchasing the Forest Commission's Climax locomotive from Erica or an ex- West Melbourne Gasworks engine which had been offered to the group for £ 100. However, flooding of Stringers Creek in June 1952 washed logs from sawmills downstream, smashing into and destroying trestle bridges and ending the project.