By Russell Bennett
THE future of one of Victoria’s greatest tourism assets is right on track with the implementation of the Puffing Billy Railway Masterplan.
The Emerald Tourist Railway Board (ETRB), with help from Tract Consultants, is preparing the masterplan for the railway.
It involves the identification of key investment opportunities, land use enhancements and a preliminary feasibility study for Puffing Billy visitor accommodation.
Puffing Billy’s special events manager Matt Collopy told an Emerald Business Group breakfast recently that the hugely popular attraction had seen a 19 per cent growth in the previous 12 months.
The railway had also experienced record numbers in 23 of the past 24 months (leading up to August) and massive growth in visitors from Asia in particular.
Nearly every Puffing Billy train is at capacity, with passenger numbers growing markedly from 349,790 in 2014/15 to 417,155 in 2015/16.
This growth has given the company some very unique, very real challenges – such as attracting visitors to towns and stops along the line, and not just to Belgrave and Emerald.
The railway masterplan will explore development opportunities within the six Puffing Billy station sites – at Belgrave, Menzies Creek, Emerald, Lakeside, Cockatoo and Gembrook.
The masterplan will also broadly address issues surrounding rail infrastructure, maintenance and management of facilities, visitor facilities, volunteer facilities, environmental management procedures and integration with surrounding towns.
The ETRB has intended for the masterplan to provide both short and long-term guidance.
Puffing Billy said the railway is under increasing pressure to provide much-needed infrastructure while also protecting the values that make the attraction so unique.
The masterplan process allows for input from the many key stakeholders and interested parties to be addressed in one, key document.
There’s currently no existing document that provides suitable guidance for the long-term enhancement of the Puffing Billy corridor, other than the Puffing Billy Railway Trackside Management Plan 2012 which deals with critical environmental issues.
The ETRB intends for the masterplan to be incorporated into the Yarra Ranges and Cardinia planning schemes.
The draft masterplan is shaped by a series of design principles.
First and foremost, it says: “Puffing Billy should essentially be seen by visitors as one train, not a rail network. The visitor experience must be intimate and personal, with a strong connection to individual places.
“The train corridor landscape must be protected from intensive development, landscape or environmental changes that adversely affect the quality and authenticity of the visitor experience. It must never be an experience dominated by infrastructure.”
Crucially, the masterplan states: “The visitor experience is not just about the train journey, although this is important. It should also be about places along the rail line and about destinations and activities away from the train.”
The track’s ridgeline route takes in some of the most iconic views of anywhere in the Dandenong Ranges and each township has its own settlement history that is linked to the railway system.
“Puffing Billy Railway is a cultural icon – a part of our collective memories of childhood and the landscapes and villages of the Dandenong Ranges,” the masterplan states.
“The narrative that defines the Puffing Billy visitor experience is not just related to travelling on an old train. It is also about cultural history, people, landscapes, leisure and particularly about place – both the tangible aspects of what is seen by visitors and the equally important landscape of people’s imagination.”
At the recent business group breakfast, Mr Collopy said that a significant part of Puffing Billy’s future was looking at opportunities between the Lakeside and Gembrook stations. He said the railway would utilize existing railway land to support the Lakeside to Gembrook section.
Interestingly, the nursery shed, signals and telegraph building are set to be relocated to Gembrook on a parcel of land next to the railway that was purchased by Puffing Billy.
Mr Collopy described it as “a godsend” given the railway was rapidly running out of available space, particularly at Belgrave.
Having identified Lakeside as a central destination point, Puffing Billy has proposed building a discovery centre on the site – an all-weather facility that could cost in the region of $9 million build.
Mr Collopy said Gembrook – often referred to as the little black sheep of the railway – had been identified as its event centre and a new museum has even been proposed.
In the future, there’s even the potential of a ‘monster’ Great Train Race running the full 28 kilometre stretch from Belgrave to Gembrook.
