How Victoria’s Puffing Billy became a world famous attraction
IT’S one of the world’s most famous steam trains, beloved by generations of Victorians. But Puffing Billy almost didn’t make it past 1955.
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MILLIONS of people have dangled arms and legs from carriages of Puffing Billy, Melbourne’s famous steam train.
The Puffing Billy Railway opened on December 18, 1900, to transport goods and people and
is located about 35 kilometres from the city in the Dandenong Ranges.
THE BATTLE TO GET PUFFING BILLY MOVING
Today it is a beloved attraction for generations of Victorians and thousands of overseas tourists, but Puffing Billy was once considered a financial liability and was shut down for many years.
Following a 1953 landslide which shut lines it was soon closed for good and carried what were supposed to be its last passengers in 1955.
But the Puffing Billy Preservation Society formed to keep the train moving, and enabled it to reopen in 1962.
Tourists we able to get back on board between Belgrave and Menzies Creek the same year, while the line was extended to Emerald in 1965, Lakeside in 1975 and Gembrook in 1998.
Puffing Billy Railway has been a not-for-profit organisation, operated by the Emerald Tourist Railway Board, since 1977.
It has about 100 staff on its books and more than 900 volunteers.
COLD-HEARTED VANDALS STRIKE PUFFING BILLY
Puffing Billy Railway chief executive officer John Robinson said 60 per cent of the 487,237 visitors were from overseas last year.
“This is the highest patronage of any narrow gauge steam heritage railway in the world that is volunteer based, not-for-profit,” Mr Robinson said.
He said international interest had grown thanks to marketing aimed at Asian countries — particularly China — in recent years with Chinese New Year one of the busiest periods.
Instagram Twitter, WeChat and Weibo have also played a role to bring in tourists, the 2017 annual report states.
There has been an increase in the cultural diversity of volunteers and information brochures have been produced in different languages, Mr Robinson said.
“The secret to our success has been the quaint nature of our narrow gauge heritage steam railway, the fact that it is living and authentic history, operates through beautiful mountain countryside,” he said.
OUR BIGGEST RIVAL’S NEVER OUT OF PUFF
‘RED RATTLER’ PUSH IN PUFFING BILLY PLAN
But with it nearing capacity, there’s a grand plan to keep it chugging along.
A $15.7 million Discovery Centre is being built at Lakeside station, which will provide an all-weather venue to tell the story of the railway’s history and the region, to be finished in late 2020.
This is the first phase of the Puffing Billy Master Plan 2017 which includes a proposed $78 million worth of upgrades over the next decade.
It’s full steam ahead for Puffing Billy and you get can get on board every day, except Christmas Day.
Timeline:
1900: Victorian Railways opens the line between Upper Ferntree Gully and Gembrook
1930s: Earns reputation as a financial liability
1954: Line closed
1955: Farewell train trips, Puffing Billy Preservation Society forms
1962: Line reopens between Belgrave and Menzies Creek
1965: Line extended to Emerald
1975: Line extended to Lakeside
1977: Puffing Billy set-up as a separate Government Statutory Body
1998: Line extended to Gembrook
2015: Saving Puffing Billy, released in August, charts the decade-long journey steam train’s restoration by a dedicated group of volunteers, beginning in 1955
2017: Work starts on Discovery Centre at Lakeside station
2020: Discovery Centre to be finished
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