Puffing Billy Railway

Puffing Billy is a restored narrow-gauge steam railway that has carried passengers through the Dandenong Ranges, about an hour east of Melbourne, for more than a century. Trains leave from Belgrave and wind through tall mountain ash forest and gullies of tree ferns.

The tradition is to sit on the open window ledges with your legs dangling outside as the train crosses the wooden trestle bridge at Monbulk Creek. Children love it, and the carriages are easy to board for senior travellers. If time is short, we arrange a one-way ride with a road transfer back.

Combine the railway with the hill villages of Sassafras and Olinda for tea, scones and garden walks. On days of total fire ban in summer, services can change, so we keep a back-up plan.