Good evening,

Recently visited Stawell on a SG chase with a friend, and found the remains of the old Grampians line on the down side. Followed it as far as Fyans Creek, it's amazing how much is left after 50-odd years, even despite recent bushfires... Found three locations where substantial bridge remains can be found.

It appears to be in the process of being converted to a rail trail of some sort, and whoever is in charge has opted to divert around the remains of the bridges rather than create new ones out of the 'bones'. Fantastic decision.

However after Fyans Creek we lost the formation, it seems to disappear after a driveway a few metres beyond the platform remains, and we weren't able to pick it up from there. Does anybody have any details of where it goes after that?

A few photos will follow shortly...

Bridge 1:

Bridge 2:

Bridge 3:

The line went on to a sandstone quarry at the Grampians.

It connected to the granite quarries at Heatherlie.

BTW the line seems to have been constructed without any legislative approval to transport granite to the Parliament building. There was difficulty in formally closing it because it had never been officially opened.

The early history of the Stawell - Grampians line was published by R.K. Whitehead - I am unsure whether it made it into a specific publication.

The local high school is involved with the restoration of the trail I believe. Surprisingly the Stawell-Grampians staff also survives.

Thanks for the history. It certainly seemed to be an unusual design, done relatively cheap as it's so flat and straight. Also found a vintage VR drain pipe! (I know, fascinating stuff. )

Has anybody managed to find the remains beyond Fyans Creek? This was the difficult section, we couldn't find a thing past there.

I recalled after Fyans Creek there were one or two platform formation.

Excellent, thanks very much for that. We had no problems finding the right of way between Stawell and Fyans Creek, most of it had become trail already, and we were able to spot old right of way on private property. That map gives a very good idea of where it went after that. Excellent for future reference!

Excuse me dragging this thread up from the past for my first post, but I have recently (re)visted the Grampians and done a bit of a exploration of this line. The results are at :

http://www.smoke.com.au/~ic/walks/heath ... erlie.html

Here's a sample The pics aren't that great due to the somewhat ancient digital camera..

IanC

Nice work, ianc - good that you have visually preserved these sights before time & other events step in and remove them from sight forever

Excellent work there - it looks like quite an interesting line to walk along with all those bridges!

Great writeup on whats left out there. Did you manage to locate the two stations of the line - Fyan's Ck & Grampians?

cheers.

I didn't actually locate the stations, this time, but the Grampians end is pretty obviously running up next to the actual quarry. Theres remains of tramways eg rails and some small trolleys still there . Its a well sign posted tourist area. I did walk around there last year.

Heres some pics some of the quarry tramways

I think I probably walked up and down the opposite side of the road where the Fysns Ck station would be several times. Doh! In my defence I didn't have a very good idea of the station location. Having since looked at the 'Gradients and curves' info, I think it must have been on the south side of where Fyans Ck rd and Heatherlie rd join. - lots of stuff to still look for next time .

The following information has been copied from the Heatherlie Quarry thread on this forum which may be of interest:

Posted by Dreadnought 14 Nov 2005 : Passenger trains were worked on the Grampians line on many occasions - generally as "picnic" trains to see the wildflowers. In fact they became so common that in 1892, two 100 foot wooden platforms built from old sleepers were constructed, one at Fyans Creek and the other at Mount Dryden.

1892 saw also at least three trains ( including one for the Governor) and 1893 had at least two. There were also passenger trains in the latter years of the 1890's.

1914, 1918 and 1919 tigether accounted for a total of 14 passenger trains on the Grampians line carrying some 5,187 passengers and earning nearly 600 pounds in revenue.

Picnic trains continued to run through the mid 1920's and early 1930's. A majority of these trains ran as charters for specific groups such as the VRI, ANA, combined school groups, various church groups, and tennis clubs.

Not all the trains used conventional passenger carriages. It appears many used open wagons fitted with bench seats and with a tarpaulin 'roof'.

(Information from ARE Grampians Tour Notes 2004)

Ive read about picnic trains to Mt Dryden, theres some note of this at display in the info center at Halls gap. I assumed that the a trip to Mt Dryden would mean getting off at the Fyans Ck stop, as Mt Dryden is a rather prominent hill whose peak is a bout 1.5K from where Fyans Ck 'should' be as from the gradients & curves info. In fact is closer to the stop than Fyans Creek actually is! .. hmm I can feel some more research coming on. IanC