Puffing Billy Railway

Puffing Billy Railway is a preserved narrow-gauge heritage steam railway operating in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, Victoria. Running between Belgrave and Gembrook, it is one of Australia's most popular heritage railways. Originally opened in 1900 to serve the hills communities, it was preserved by volunteers and now offers open-sided carriage journeys through fern gullies, mountain ash forest and over the historic timber trestle bridge.

Visitors can expect a heritage steam train journey through the Dandenong Ranges on open-sided carriages. The route passes through temperate rainforest, fern gullies and rolling hills between Belgrave, Lakeside (Emerald Lake Park) and Gembrook. At stations visitors find heritage buildings, a museum and the Lakeside Visitor Centre. The experience includes sitting on the carriage sills with legs dangling over the side on straight sections, views of the Monbulk Creek trestle bridge, and opportunities for photography, picnics and short walks at stops.

Built as one of four narrow-gauge lines by Victorian Railways to open up remote areas, the 24 km line from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook opened on 18 December 1900. It served timber, farming and hills communities. After a landslide in 1953 the line closed, but was preserved by the Puffing Billy Preservation Society formed in 1955. Volunteer restoration saw the line progressively reopened from Belgrave to Emerald in 1962, to Lakeside in 1975 and to Gembrook in 1998, becoming a leading preserved steam railway.

Puffing Billy is an iconic Victorian heritage railway and a major volunteer-run cultural attraction. It preserves narrow-gauge steam railway heritage, operational skills and rolling stock, and is closely associated with community volunteerism in the Dandenong Ranges. The railway is a symbol of the region's tourism identity and heritage conservation.