Rail Transport in Victoria - Private Railways

Private Railways

A small number of private railways have also existed at various times. Some, such as the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company, and the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company, Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company and St Kilda and Brighton Railway Company were acquired by the Victorian Railways and made part of the core state network in 1860 and 1878 respectively. Other country branch lines were also built by private companies: namely the Kerang-Koondrook Tramway and the Deniliquin and Moama Railway, both not being acquired until the 20th century.

In addition to the main Victorian rail network of the Victorian Railways and successors, a number of narrow gauge private railways and tramways have also existed for logging and mining purposes. These included the Yallourn 900mm Railway in the Latrobe Valley open cut coal mines, the Fyansford Cement Works Railway near Geelong, the Tyers Valley Tramway at Mount Baw Baw, and the Powelltown Tramway from Yarra Junction.

Most logging tramways operated in the Otway Ranges, Gippsland, and the inner east of the Great Dividing Range; primarily between the 1850s and the 1950s, with only one surviving into the 1960s. They were primarily of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) or 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, with 2 ft (610 mm), 2 ft 6 in (762 mm), 4 ft (1,219 mm), 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) and variants also used.