South Gippsland Railway

History

The South Gippsland line (also known as the Great Southern Railway) was opened from Dandenong to Cranbourne in 1888 and extended to Koo Wee Rup, Nyora and Loch in 1890, Korumburra and Leongatha in 1891.

South Gippsland Railway Inc. (SGR) was founded in 1990 as the Great Southern Railway Society, based in Nyora. In 1994, a section of the South Gippsland railway line, from Lang Lang to Leongatha was leased by the Victorian government to the South Gippsland Railway. Freight trains continued to use the line from Dandenong as far as Koala Siding near Nyora until 1998.

Regular train services

The SGR provided regular Sunday train services, using three train types. These were:

During school holiday periods, services were operated on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Special trains and charters

The South Gippsland Railway operated regular Sunday trains on the complete Lenogatha to Nyora section. In addition, a number of special trains were run. These included the "Dinner Train", a service providing in-train hospitality, beverages and snacks, with a barbecue-style evening dinner at Korumburra Station. This service ran approximately every two months.

Another special service was the "Murder Mystery Train"—by group booking only—during which an entertainer/host and passengers participated in costume as characters in a drama.

Projects

Station works were in progress at both Nyora and Korumburra stations. Korumburra works included the establishment of works sheds, and locomotive and rollingstock stabling sheds. The work commenced in February 2009, and was scheduled to be completed by 30 June that year.

Nyora works included repairs to the station building, including the internal and external wall cladding, establishment of a new safeworking office and public space/meeting facilities in the main room of the station.

Rollingstock refurbishment projects included two ABU First/Second class corridor compartment carriages #32 and #40 being transferred to the railway, and the cleaning and repainting to original colours of various goods wagons.

On 15 June 2010 railmotor 61RM arrived. It is owned by Victorian Goldfields Railway and was on a long-term loan to the South Gippsland Railway for use on its services. 61RM was supplied with a motor unit that was overdue for refurbishment. The motor unit was not suited to the gradients and hills on the South Gippsland Railway line, and the railmotor was withdrawn from service pending a major reconditioning and mechanical overhaul.

Steam locomotive K 190, operated by Steamrail Victoria, was on loan to the railway during the summer of 1995–1996, and the engine and tender was repainted in a more noticeable green. The loco was once again returned for service with the SGR during the summer of 1996–1997. The locomotive was taken back by Steamrail, just prior to the permanent line closure between Nyora and Cranbourne. With the later dismantling of that section of the track, the SGR became a "landlocked" line, no longer able to connect with the greater Victorian rail network.

Other projects included restoring the line from Nyora, north to Cranbourne, which is the current limit of the electrified Melbourne suburban network. Since the line between Cranbourne and Nyora was closed, obstacles to the reinstatement of train services included a toilet block being built over the line at the Koo Wee Rup Bus Interchange and unstable bridges at some locations. After research into the viability of restoration, it was decided that the line between Nyora and Lang Lang (15 km) was the easiest section to refurbish, and discussions were held about the concept and its associated costs.

On 4 December 2015, it was announced that the SGR had suspended all operations further notice.

Rollingstock

South Gippsland Railway had a collection of ex Victorian and South Australian passenger rolling stock. With the closure of the railway, the re-distribution of the rollingstock is being determined, with all privately-owned rail vehicles to be removed as a first priority. VicTrack, the owner of the rollingstock, will then redistribute the remainder to other rail groups, should a new operator for the South Gippsland Tourist line not be found.

The Yarra Valley Railway announced on their facebook page in early 2017 that they had acquired eleven items from the former SGR.

Closure

The last train ran to Leongatha on the 29 November 2015. At the SGR annual general meeting on 16 January 2016, the membership decided to close the railway, for a number of reasons, including the low number of active volunteer members, and a lack of finance to repair aging rollingstock and infrastructure.

There had been the possibility that another railway group might take over the assets and lease of the SGR, which could be considered as part of the winding-up provisions of the existing entity. In the 1990s, one such group, the Lang Lang–Leongatha Railway Preservation Society, was formed with a view to examining options for running services on the former SGR line.