Walhalla Goldfields Railway - Current Operation and Rollingstock

Current Operation and Rollingstock

The Walhalla Goldfields Railway operates regular tourist services between Thomson and Walhalla stations, using diesel locomotives. Notably, the railway carries far more passengers as a tourist railway, than during its time as an operating revenue line. Around 30,000 passengers travel on the service each year, compared to around 1,000 annually during the latter years of the original railway's operation.

Due to the unavailability of original rolling stock from the railway (some of which is still in use on the Puffing Billy Railway near Melbourne), locomotives were acquired from a variety of locations, including two small industrial diesel engines from the Gippsland area, a larger diesel engine from the Emu Bay Railway in Tasmania and in November 2010, a DH Class diesel from the Queensland Railways.

A small Henschel & Son steam locomotive built in Kassel, Germany was used between 2002-06 but was removed from the railway due to contractual issues with its interstate owner. As part of the celebrations for the railway's centenary, the Puffing Billy Railway loaned steam locomotive 7A (which ran on the original line) for special public operations on the weekend of 29/30 May 2010. 7A is last believed to have operated through to Walhalla in 1936.

The passenger rollingstock was constructed from the frames and bogies from coal wagons from the now closed 90 cm gauge Interconnecting Railway between Yallourn and Morwell, 40 km south of Walhalla. The buildings and new rollingstock designs reflect the original Victorian Railways design as much as possible.

While the railway did not use historical rolling stock at the time of reopening because all extant examples were owned and required by the Puffing Billy Railway, the collection is a significant piece of industrial railway history, and the WGR provides a valuable tourist train service for the regional economy.