Forrest railway line

Forrest
Overview
Type	Vic
Status	Removed with partial conversion to rail trail
Stations	9
Operation
Opened	1889/1891
Closed	1957
Technical
Line length	31 km (19 mi)

The Forrest railway line is a former branch railway in Victoria, Australia. It branched off the Port Fairy railway line at Birregurra, running through the Otway Ranges to the town of Forrest.

It opened to Deans Marsh on 19 December 1889, and to Forrest on 5 June 1891. It had eight stations at opening: Whoorel, Deans Marsh, Arlett's Corner, Murroon, Dewing's Creek, Gerangamete, Barwon Downs, and Yaugher. On 21 September 1891, four stations were renamed: Arlett's Corner became Pennyroyal, Dewing's Creek became Barwon Downs, Barwon Downs became Yaugher, and Yaugher became Forrest. The timetable in 1940 stopped at the same eight stations as in September 1891, with the train taking fifty minutes to get from Forrest to Birregurra. The line closed in 1957.

The line was a key means of transport for the Otway Ranges timber and coal industries. Prior to the opening of the Great Ocean Road, the Forrest railway with connecting coaches at Deans Marsh was also the primary means of reaching the coastal resort town of Lorne.

An extension of the line from Forrest to Barramunga was debated from the 1890s until at least the 1910s. It initially received the support of the parliamentary Railways Committee in 1904, but did not proceed after an unfavourable report from an officer of the Railways Department. Local campaigns for the extension continued for several years thereafter, but it was never built.

The Birregurra-Forrest "Tiger" Rail Trail is a walking and cycling track following a section of the Forrest line's former alignment.

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