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The Noojee railway line is a closed railway line in Victoria, Australia. Branching off from the Gippsland line at Warragul station, it was built to service the timber industry in the upper Latrobe River area, transporting timber as well as providing a general goods and passenger service to townships in the area. The final section of the line between Neerim South and Noojee traversed increasingly hilly terrain and featured a number of large timber trestle bridges. Extensively and repeatedly damaged by bushfires over the years, the line was closed in the 1950s and dismantled. The last remaining large trestle bridge on the line has been preserved and has become a popular local tourist attraction. ==History== Only a few years after the opening of the Gippsland mainline to Sale, townships along the upper reaches of the Latrobe River began to petition for a branch line to be built to service the area and by 1885 a route had been approved by Parliament from Warragul via Buln Buln. There was some dispute regarding the route, with a deputation meeting the Minister for Railways in 1888 to request the line be built from Longwarry rather than Warragul, following the Tarago River along an easier alignment and providing a shorter route to Melbourne. The Premier, Duncan Gillies, advised that the route could not be changed, and the line opened in sections with Warragul to Rokeby opened on 12 May 1890, and Rokeby to Neerim South on 18 March 1892.〔Fiddian (1997), p. 163.〕〔Fiddian (1997), p. 164.〕 Before the year was out, representations were being made to extend the line from Neerim South to Neerim proper. However, the line progressed no further as the Railways Standing Committee found that traffic on the proposed extension would not justify the £19,000 ($38,000) expenditure. Options for a more cheaply built extension, including the possibility of it being built as a narrow gauge railway were to be considered. With the opening up of Crown lands in the Noojee and Fumina districts in the early 20th century, areas with poor rail and road transport, there was a renewed push for the railway to be completed. Extension of the line to Noojee via Neerim and Nayook had commenced by 1915, and on 27 March 1917 the long extension was opened from Neerim South to Nayook,〔Fiddian (1997), p. 165.〕 climbing from an elevation of to . Construction continued on the final section into Noojee, over which the line descended , and it was opened on 26 April 1919.〔Fiddian (1997), p. 166.〕 There was considerable optimism for the future prospects for the railway. ''The Argus'' newspaper reported that in addition to timber traffic paying its way, the line, which extended "into a most picturesque part of Gippsland", would soon develop a profitable tourist traffic. However, even as the railway was being officially opened, the roads that would ultimately lead to its closure were already on the way. John Mackey, the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and member for West Gippsland, announced during the opening ceremony that the Country Roads Board had made funds available for the building of roads into the region and was now awaiting contractors willing to undertake the construction works.〔 With the completion of the railway into Noojee, timber production in the area boomed. More than 200 kilometres of narrow gauge tramlines were built to link the surrounding mills to the railway terminus. At least 28 timber mills were in operation between 1919 and 1926, when bushfires swept through the region and destroyed the township. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Noojee railway line」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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