Puffing Billy Steam Railway

One of the most enjoyable introductions to the Dandenong Ranges is a ride on Puffing Billy, Australia’s oldest surviving and famously preserved steam railway. The 25-kilometre journey takes visitors through thick forests and lush fern-filled gullies from Belgrave, only one hour east of Melbourne, to Emerald Lake Park and Gembrook.

Puffing Billy also offers first-class travel and dining experiences, with lunch, Devonshire tea and evening meals available on the ‘Night Train’. You can catch the train at any of the stations along the way, or simply watch it leisurely go by from one of the station refreshment rooms.

The last of the experimental narrow-gauge railway lines built at the turn of the twentieth century to help develop rural areas, Puffing Billy runs every day (except Christmas Day).