Tylden - Fern Hill

From Tylden the line continues to cross Chanters Road. The railway is fairly easy to pick here with a large cutting on the Fern Hill side of the road.

The next encounter with the line is at Rippers Lane near Fern Hill. There is a trestle over the Little Coliban River which is on private property. Unfortunately it is not easy to get a photo and the image below shows the best view I could find.

The photo below shows a K class crossing the trestle on an A.R.E excursion to Daylesford:

http://www.brownfam.com.au/ROLL54/ROLL54_files/image005.jpg

I also forgot to get shots of the line crossing Rippers Lane but I found a photo on Google images of the line just after the crossing.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3176/2297401338_5dbf493eee.jpg

The next crossing is just before the site of Fern Hill station. The line climbed on a small embankment to cross James Lane before entering the station area.

Interestingly the rails are still in place at the road crossing.

The photo below shows the remains of a cattle pit, with the dog spikes that held the tracks in place still sticking out of the wood.

It's interesting to compare this image to one I found a on google images, probably taken a year or two before mine. The only disadvantage to all the rain we've had over the last year has been that it's made the line a lot harder to trace! There's HEAPS of plant growth all over the old right of way.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2296633605_aa5a171f8a.jpg

I couldn't even see the old rails that continued up to the cattle pit because of all the plant growth.

The photo below shows the site of the station.

The next update will be on the Fern Hill - Trentham section.

Carlsruhe - Tylden

 http://www.brownfam.com.au/ROLL54/ROLL54.htm

 The next stage of the journey is from Carlsruhe to Tylden. Due to timing constraints I was unable to explore the area around Carlsruhe station so I don't know how far the former line can be accessed past the station. Once the railway has curved away from the Bendigo mainline, it drops downgrade across Thompsons Lane.

There is the remains of a cattle pit on the Carlsruhe side of the crossing.

The former line is clearly visible from the site of the railway crossing as it continues towards Tylden.

At the bottom of the hill the line crosses a small trestle bridge. Unfortunately it is on private property and is inaccessible. However it is clearly visible from Thompsons Lane.

Further towards Tylden the line crosses Bourkes Lane. However it seemed to be little more than a 4wd track and I didn't want to risk taking a 2wd up it.
My next sighting of the line was from Central Rd as it approaches Tylden station. The line passes over another trestle, this one slightly larger. Again it is inaccessible and on private property. The photo was taken from Tylden-Woodend road, just across Milking Yard Creek.

The two photos below show the former right-of-way approaching Tylden-Woodend road on an embankment, now covered in gauze.

The line passed across the road and continued onto Tylden station. Unfortunately the station site is on private property however Wikipedia states that a platform mound remains. My guess it that the station site is just after the large pine trees that are to the right of the photo.