The railway from Neerim South to Noojee swoops and soars through some of Victoria's most attractive scenery. Yes, I know that should be in the past tense, but I'm ever the optimist.

Unfortunately, burned-out trestle bridges no longer safely spanning the deep gullies and the march of progress have now barred access to Noojee by this route. The cost of rebuilding the bridges would appear to be prohibitive but a boom in tourism might one day, just maybe, make it possible to reopen the line.
The history of the line tends to fall into two parts. From Warragul as far as Neerim South it was built with little difficulty, though many cuttings and embankments were needed to take the line through the rolling hills north of Warragul.
From Neerim South to Noojee was a vastly different matter. This later part of the line was an railway engineering classic.
Warragul station, the southern end of the line, was built by T. Cockram and Co. Their contract was dated 17 May 1878 and the price of just over 3400 pounds was apparently adhered to. The station was opened in 1879. There were only two rough sheds provided as station buildings (which makes the contract price seem far too high - I wonder if this was the price for the fine building that was to be built there?).
Local residents, of course, were soon agitating for a line running north into the hills. Some of them even saw Warragul as a future major railway junction. There was a plan to run a line south to Leongatha, and this line was actually surveyed, though it was never built.
The locals had their way, eventually, and the contract for the first stage of the line, to Rokeby, was let to J. Ahearn. He agreed to build the eight and a half miles to 52,880 pounds. The first stage was fairly easy work and was opened on schedule on 12 May 1890.
The contract for the second stage, Rokeby to Neerim South, was let to M. Govan on 12 September 1890, but he was unable to go ahead and the contract was transferred to B. Wallace. The agreed price was 26,948 pounds and this section of the line was opened on 18 March 1892.
The total capital cost as far as Neerim South was 123,469 pounds. This included such items as the purchase of land, the building of bridges, station sheds and so on.
I don't know what the initial fares were but in 1919 the return fare from Warragul to Neerim South was two shillings and eleven pence.
The second part of the tale lies in the construction of the permanent way from Neerim South to Noojee through the ranges. The line had been rising from Warragul to Neerim South, but the grades became steeper as the track wound up toward the summit. The highest point on the line is about half a mile out of Nayook, on the Noojee side.
At 1415 feet above sea level this was 1066 feet above Warragul. At times the gradients on this section were as steep as one in 30.
The section to Nayook was opened on 27 March 1917 at a cost of 79,796 pounds. Construction had begun in 1913 but a wartime labour shortage during the Great War slowed progress.
The extension of the line to Noojee cost a further 45,832 pounds and was opened on Monday 28 April or Wednesday 30 April 1919. This section brought the total capital cost of the line to 258,766 pounds.
The descent from Nayook wound around steep spurs and was carried over deep gullies on a series of trestle bridges that was probably without equal in the state. Unfortunately, fire has destroyed all but one. The grades from the summit down to the Noojee station were as steep as one in 37. Seven high trestle bridges were built, with a total length of over 1500 feet. Even then the station was on the uphill side of the town. The line just could not be made steep enough to get right down into the valley.
The station was built on land originally selected by Messrs Taylor and Riddell. A turntable was built because there was not enough flat land to build a turning loop for the locomotives. When the station was close din 1954 the turntable was removed and taken to Bright.
The first stationmaster was not posted to Noojee immediately. J.A. Wilson was appointed on 23 November 1926 and stayed until 3 August 1930. Until 1940 caretakers managed the station. A 'porter in charge', M. A. Stewart, was appointed on 31 July 1940. From March 1951 the station was again in the hands of caretakers until its closure in 1954.
In the 1920s a market-day train ran to Warragul and return every week, but most of the traffic on the line was loads of timber. Peak revenue for the line was earned in 1922-23, totalling nearly 34,000 pounds.
In 1929 only 230 passengers were carried. Other traffic included two truckloads of dray horses. Seven truck loads of beef and dairy cattle and twelve truckloads of sheep for the butcher. 1930 saw the end of the market-day train though a daily good service was maintained. During 1936-39 the service was reduced to one goods train each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
By 1943 this had increased again to a twice-weekly service because of heavy wartime demands for timber. On Sundays there were three trains!
The Nayook-Noojee section was closed three times. A fire in 1926 destroyed the Noojee station and one bridge.
The line was closed for three months for repairs. Nine of the 22 trucks on the Noojee yards were also destroyed. In 1938 fire claimed another bridge and the line was closed for two months.
The great 1939 fire destroyed the station again, along with most of the town. All the bridges and culverts along this northern section of the line were damaged or
destroyed.
The driver was ordered to take the train out early as the fires closed in. he and the fireman inspected every bridge on foot before taking the train across.
On 3 March 1954 a special train took residents along the line into Warragul to meet the Royal Train, with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. This train had five passenger carriages, probably making it the longest passenger train the line had ever seen.
Shortly after, another bridge was destroyed by fire and the line was finally closed.
From Colourful Tales of Old Gippsland by John Wells