History
The line from Ringwood to Upper Ferntree Gully was opened in December 1889. A narrow-gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) line was opened from there to Gembrook in December 1900, the second of four experimental narrow-gauge lines built by the Victorian Railways.
In 1921, the narrow-gauge section from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave was converted to automatic signalling, the first such instance on single track in the Southern Hemisphere. This section reverted to Staff and Ticket safeworking in 1930.
Electrification of the railway to Upper Ferntree Gully was implemented in November 1925.
Following a landslide in 1953, the narrow-gauge line was formally closed in April 1954, although it was reopened as far as Belgrave for some "farewell specials" and then for the Puffing Billy Preservation Society until again closed in February 1958.
The line was partly duplicated—between Bayswater and Lower Ferntree Gully (now Ferntree Gully)—in February 1957.
The narrow gauge line to Belgrave had been closed so that the line could be rebuilt as part of the suburban electrified system. The new, broad-gauge, electrified extension opened in February 1962. It initially operated on the Staff and Ticket system, but was converted to automatic signalling in March 1964, with the section from Ferntree Gully to Upper Ferntree Gully being converted the following day.
Ringwood to Bayswater was converted to automatic signalling in June 1974, as was Bayswater to Ferntree Gully in July 1977. In December 1982, Ringwood to Bayswater was duplicated.
Read more about this topic: Belgrave Railway Line
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