Orbost Railway Line flashback to 1981

Some scenes taken on the now long closed Orbost line including loading timber at Orbost, and the goods train including the train crossing some wooden trestle bridges

[@christopherfrost9137]

I worked on Orbost line in 1986. Stayed at Jannsens Boarding House. Buetifull area. Pity the government closed it permanently.

[@rsinclair6560]

The late Mark Plummer asked me to be the East Gippsland railtrail representative project coordinator when I lived in Lakes Entrance. Mark was a keen railway and light railway research society enthusiast. Bike riders knew nothing about timber tramways or closed lines. He introduced railtrails to Australia as a means of saving the easements keeping them in public ownership. As he explained after my work nominating the railway between Scottsdale and Branxholme on the National Estate. If time comes around you can always put a railway back if you own the land. I,ve walked it, driven along it and rode bikes many times between Bruthen and Tostaree. My friends at Tostaree who lost their dairy farm after deregualtion (Thank you State Government- again) have a nice bed and breakfast beside the line. My current project is a steam / rail motor railway hospitality cafe recreational hub and station between Lebrina and Wyena.

[@cliffleigh7450]

A beautiful scenic line that I had the pleasure of travelling on before it closed. Some great bridges too. A great loss.

[@Seiskid]

This is so cool - thanks too for not adding music.

[@Hossak]

Amen to that!

[@kelvinh8327]

Story goes that representatives from Orbost travelled to Melbourne to take their concerns to the Minister for Transport (Or whatever he was called). Upon hearing the arguments from the representatives, the Minister asked how they travelled to Melbourne, "by car" they replied. "Exactly" he said. BTW, I like the Protective Apparel the guy helping to unload the wood was wearing, aka a pair of stubbies ;)

[@reidgck]

Nevertheless, in comparison, they surely couldn't load much timber into their car.

[@kelvinh8327]

@@reidgck - totally agree! The train ride from Spencer St to Orbost must have been so pleasant and picturesque.

[@freeagent8225]

I was at the old station in Orbost yesterday , what a. coincidence . Lovely town.

[@jessesands9426]

Marvelous old trestle bridge!😊 🎟️

[@michaelroper4237]

what a sweet railway total shame that its gone

[@woobyvr9654]

Michael Roper lots of it still remains like the bridge for example

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

The Victorian people needed more rail trails for their bicycles. The people of Orbost wanted it retained but the green8es and political leader won out. Funny how we elect politicians and yet they continue to remove services

[@paulorocky]

@@michaelnaisbitt1639 it's a crying shame. It's not as if you can't build bike tracks elsewhere. The line could have been preserved as a tourist line if nothing else. If they can make it work in Western Tasmania (West Coast Wilderness Railway) then surely it could work in East Gippsland. Sure is beautiful country.

[@TheLoz999]

I remember seeing the train near,Orbost around thus time thanks so much for sharing Graeme

[@vsvnrg3263]

good stuff. i especially like the drone stuff. oh hang on, drones haven't been invented yet. 5:36, i always smile when a driver clowns around with the horn. with all those trestle bridges, this would cost a few freeway interchanges to put it back in service.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I was fortunate to have travelled this line in the van of one of the freight trains. I also rode on a steam special. I also rode on an ARHS/AREA combo where both groups travelled in opposite directions the NSW group from Canberra travelled to Bombala and met the AREA group coming from Orbost in a pink bus and we changed over.

[@raymondwelsh6028]

I remember passing that trestle in the 70’s or 80’s and seeing a railway truck just lying on its side beneath the trestle. No one cared, seemed to be the attitude them, remnants probably still there some where.

[@ccaaproduction105]

Good job, Thank you for your information.

[@joesprinter8202]

So, you managed to get new roads built without objection but you can't maintain your precious railways. When you can no longer drive around in your tin cars you'll be looking for someone to blame for closing your rail routes. Once the infrastructure has gone, it's very difficult to build it again.. You Aussies have much to learn....

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

joe sprinter Not sure what country you are from but in Australia the governments both state and Federal are now and have been for a long while been very anti rural railways. The cost of upkeep and labour has resulted in hundreds of kms being lopped off the rail network

[@sutherlandA1]

Nearly all westernised nations have culled their rail networks especially the USA and UK (beeching cuts), unfortunately rural branch railways become economically unviable and must close

[@paulorocky]

@@michaelnaisbitt1639 not to mention lobbying by the road transport industy

[@xr6lad]

@@michaelnaisbitt1639 hard to justify running a train when the average load was 3 passengers and the locals only supported when it was about to be lost.

[@nkelly.9]

Graeme, you are a chronicler of these forgotten events without peer. Dare I say , no one else , in the history of white occupation, has bothered to record such routine goings on. Now that the neo liberals have deemed these goings on as "un economic" (unlike negative gearing which is economic at $11 billion per year) your prescient recordings of such goings on proves to be a treasure trove. I give you my thanks for making the films and subsequently posting them

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

What killed this line. Road transport or the constant maintenance on those tremendous trestles

[@somerandomdude1552]

both and that the lumber was the only thing it carried

[@tyrionlannister6769]

Forgot to include the Loney Report...!

[@sergeant5848]

Idiotic parliamentarians with no vision of the future and stocks in road transport and construction, killed the South Gippsland Line. Even now the Cranbourne to Clyde section is being reopened due to population regrowth. Leongatha, a large rural population, lost it's trains. Knobs in Spring St, Melbourne opting to use buses and trucks to transport people and produce. Idiots.

[@MitchDonovan]

@@sergeant5848 Those bridges cost tens of millions to replace. $95 million just for the Avon river

[@sergeant5848]

@@MitchDonovan Yep. I get it. However, Governments and Unions have made the workplace and costs for major projects so expensive in the last 3 decades that it's simply easier to let most of the older infrastructure fall apart. At what cost? Increased road traffic leads to congestion that requires new roads. More road traffic leads to more crashes and hospitalisation. More road traffic leads to more pollution. We can go on and on. So what's cheaper, a 95 million dollar upgrade or the death of a motorist? And yes, less workers are dying on the job due to improved safety, but there has to be a balance between making the job site safer and not make in the job 10x more expensive in the process. My job has become considerably more time-consuming due to the huge amount of paperwork required to be completed before and after the work in the name of OH&S. Do most employees read that paper work? Of course not. Its only purpose is to exonerate the company and screw the signee in the event of a mishap. Training your workers to work safe is the key.

[@jessesands9426]

What a crying shame! 😂

[@BillWalters-iz3tv]

Their seems to be a fair amount of freight on that line, when it comes to selling a product in railways vs road s, rail hasn't done a very good job in selling the product to businesse so they lose a lot of business

[@zdravkoleski2375]

Cool so Orbost was last stop? And went all the way Melbourne?