Puffing Billy Railway

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Puffing Billy Railway
Victorian Railways NA class 6A at Belgrave station in 2002
Overview
Locale	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Termini	Belgrave (Puffing Billy) Gembrook
Connecting lines	Belgrave line
Former connections	Upper Ferntree Gully line
Stations	11
Website	puffingbilly.com.au
Service
Type	Heritage Railway
System	Puffing Billy Railway
Services	3 to 6 services daily (except Christmas Day)
Rolling stock	Victorian Railways narrow gauge
History
Commenced	1899
Opened	1900
Completed	1900
Closed	1954
Reopened	from 1962 in stages
Technical
Line length	25.1 km (15.6 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
Operating speed	24 km/h (15 mph)

The Puffing Billy Railway is a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway in the southern foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, Australia. The railway was one of the five narrow gauge lines of the Victorian Railways which opened around the beginning of the 20th century. It is close to the city of Melbourne and is one of the most popular steam heritage railways in the world,^[1] attracting tourists from Australia and overseas. The railway aims to preserve and restore the line as near as possible to how it was in the first three decades of its existence, but with particular emphasis on the early 1920s.

The primary starting point is Belgrave station which houses the railway's operations and administration centre. The line runs through Lakeside Station where a visitor information centre provides catering and an indoor interpretive space.^[2] The south-eastern terminus is Gembrook railway station. In 2022 the railway also returned the traditional Puffing Billy Railway dangling of legs^[3] from the train carriages, which is a core part of the charm of the railway.