South Gippsland Railway

Former tourist railway in Victoria, Australia

The South Gippsland Railway was a tourist railway located in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It controlled a section of the former South Gippsland railway line between Nyora and Leongatha, and operated services from Leongatha to Nyora, via Korumburra, the journey taking about 65 minutes.

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. The line had numerous branches which included: the Strzelecki Line; branching from Koo Wee Rup, the Wonthaggi Line; branching from Nyora, the Coal Creek, Austral Coal and Outtrim Lines; branching from Korumburra, Barry's Beach Oil Terminal Line; branching between Toora and Welshpool, and the Port Albert Line branching from Alberton. South Gippsland Railway Inc. (SGR) was founded in 1990 as a separate entity to the Great Southern Railway Society, based in Nyora, where the two groups worked in partnership but under the banner of the SGTR. 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.

The SGR provided regular Sunday train services, using three train types. These were:
V. R. Y class diesel electric locomotive, number 135, which hauled two or three passenger carriages and goods rolling stock. V. R. railmotors RM55 and RM61. S. A. R. Redhen diesel railcars, as one or two car sets. SGR also used the SGR owned V. R. T Class diesel electric locomotive, number 342. At one time it was leased to the now defunct Victorian freight train operator El Zorro, and is currently stored at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre undergoing current restoration. During school holiday periods, services were operated on Sundays and Wednesdays.

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. Special "Santa" trains were run for Christmas periods.

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 ageing 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.

The Southern Rail Group sparked interest to reactivate the tourist railway but faced difficulties with having to deal with rail trail supporters and South Gippsland Shire Council members. Before the termination of the previous council, the Southern Rail Group had the support of council and were waiting for approval of lease for the corridor from VicTrack and finalisation of their own plans. Currently the Southern Rail Group has come to a stand still with no support from current council members. The council has more interest in converting the rail corridor to a rail trail after acquiring the lease themselves from VicTrack, but the removal of rail assets proves to be a costly venture.