There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when you step aboard the Puffing Billy steam train. The whistle sounds, the little steam engine shudders to life, and suddenly you’re not just riding a train - you’re travelling backwards through more than a century of Victorian history. As the line winds through the gorgeous hills of the Dandenong Ranges, it strings together a series of villages that each carry their own story, their own character, and their own reasons to fall in love with them.

At Melbourne Touring Company, our private tours to the Dandenongs are built around this journey. We think the villages deserve just as much attention as the railway itself. So before you climb aboard, here’s the story of the towns and hamlets that make the Puffing Billy line one of the great heritage journeys in Australia.

A journey every steam train enthusiasts will love.

Belgrave: where the journey begins

Belgrave is where the modern world hands you over to the past. As the current main terminus of the heritage line, it’s also where Melbourne’s suburban Metro network ends and the narrow-gauge magic begins - a genuine interchange between two centuries of rail travel. Belgrave began as a timber and orcharding town in the late 1800s, its fortunes tied directly to the arrival of the railway line in 1900 which still operates today. It was the original Puffing Billy's that opened the Dandenongs to settlers, tourists, and produce carts alike.

Today, Belgrave is a lively hub in its own right, with cafes, galleries, and independent shops lining its main street. It’s also the starting point for the famous Monbulk Creek Trestle Bridge, one of the most photographed structures on the entire Puffing Billy line, where the train creaks gracefully over the valley just minutes after departure. This fabulous wooden structure has stood for more than a century.

Selby: the quiet achiever

Blink and you might miss Selby, and that’s rather the point. This leafy, unassuming stop in the hills has never chased the spotlight the way some of its neighbours have. Historically a small farming and timber community, Selby remains one of the most peaceful pockets along the route - a quiet reminder that not every village needed to become a tourist drawcard to matter.

Today it’s a tranquil residential pocket. Its cool-climate gardens and bushland backdrop offering a gentle contrast to the bustle of Belgrave just up the line.

Menzies Creek: guardian of the railways’ story

Menzies Creek holds a special place in the heart of any Puffing Billy enthusiast, because it’s home to the Puffing Billy Railway Museum. The settlement itself began as a logging and sawmilling community in the 1880s. Its economy was built on the dense mountain ash forests that once grew plentifully all over the hills. When the railway arrived, Menzies Creek became a natural stop for timber transport as well as passengers.

These days, the museum here houses beautifully restored locomotives and rolling stock, along with photographs and artefacts that tell the full story of the line’s construction, near-closure, and remarkable community-led revival in the 1950s. For anyone who wants to understand not just the scenery but the mechanics and heart behind Puffing Billy, Menzies Creek is essential.

Clematis: the wayside charmer

Clematis is the kind of stop that rewards those who slow down. A small wayside platform rather than a bustling township, it takes its name from the native clematis vine that once climbed thickly through the surrounding bushland. In the railway’s early decades, Clematis served scattered farming families and orchardists who relied on the line to get their produce to Melbourne markets.

Today, Clematis retains its same unhurried, rural charm. Its rolling paddocks, and established gardens, offer glimpses of the kind of Dandenongs’ lifestyle that first drew city dwellers to the hills over a century ago.

Emerald: the heart of the hills

If any village along the line rivals Belgrave for prominence, it’s Emerald. The original station here was built in 1900, and remarkably, it still stands today, retaining much of its early character and historic charm. Emerald grew rapidly as a centre for the Dandenongs’ famous flower and berry farms, and its cool climate made it a favourite retreat for Melburnians escaping the summer heat.

Modern Emerald has grown into one of the most visited villages in the Ranges, known for its boutique shopping, local wineries, and the surrounding forests that make it a favourite for walkers and nature lovers. It’s a village that has managed to hold onto its old-world charm while becoming a genuinely thriving community.

Lakeside: the halfway treasure

Nestled within Emerald Lake Park, Lakeside station marks the popular halfway point of the Belgrave to Gembrook journey, and it’s easy to see why so many visitors choose to break their trip here. The park itself was developed around a reservoir built in the 1920s, later transformed into the much-loved recreational lake that anchors the area today.

Modern Lakeside is a genuine family drawcard, with the park offering picnic lawns, a miniature railway, playgrounds, and walking trails around the water. For many visitors, this is where the journey through history meets a simple, joyful afternoon outdoors.

Cockatoo: named for the locals

Cockatoo takes its cheerful name from the sulphur-crested cockatoos that have always called this part of the Dandenongs home. These loud and hyperactive birds are still very much in residence today. Located near Pakenham Road, the town was originally established around timber milling before shifting toward agriculture and orcharding as the forests were sadly cleared.

Cockatoo suffered greatly in the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, one of the most devastating events in the region’s modern history, but the town rebuilt with real resilience. Today it’s a close-knit community known for its produce, its bushland surrounds, and the enduring presence of its noisy, colourful namesake who screech and wheel overhead.

Gembrook: journey’s end

Gembrook is where the heritage line reaches its final terminus, and there’s something fitting about a journey through history ending in a town that has so carefully preserved its own. Gembrook was originally a forestry settlement, its growth tied closely to the timber tramways that once threaded through the surrounding state forest - some of which fed directly into the Puffing Billy line itself.

Today, Gembrook is a picturesque destination in its own right. With a relaxed village atmosphere, local produce stores, and easy access to the Bunyip State Park. Arriving here by steam train, after winding through every village that came before, feels like the proper way to complete the Dandenongs story.

The stations that time left behind

Sadly, not every station on the original Puffing Billy line survived as part of today’s heritage journey.

Upper Ferntree Gully, once the major break-of-gauge junction where narrow and broad-gauge lines met, is now purely a commuter stop on Melbourne’s Belgrave line, as are Upwey and Tecoma, both converted to broad-gauge suburban stations decades ago.

Further along, smaller stops including Nobelius Siding (established by the Nobelius Nursery), Wright, and Fielder have closed entirely, their platforms reclaimed by the bush. These lost stations are a quiet reminder of just how extensive the original network once was - and how special it is that the surviving heritage line has been so lovingly preserved.

Experience it all with us

Every one of these villages has its own personality, its own history, and its own reasons to linger.

On a private tour with Melbourne Touring Company you’re never rushed past any of them. We build your day around the stops, stories, and scenery that interest you most, with the comfort and flexibility of your own private vehicle and tour guide/driver. It is they who will share stories with you of this fabulous piece of railway nostalgia so loved by all. Your driver/guide will ensure you are taken care of all the way from pickup at your hotel to your safe return after a magical, memorable day.

Puffing Billy is the icon, but the villages along the way are what also make the journey unforgettable.

Ready to see it for yourself? Get in touch with our team to start planning your private Dandenongs tour.

FAQs