Woori Yallock to Lillydale by Train
by nigel on 03-Jan-2011
Before you can depart Woori Yallock for Lillydale you need to arrive at Woori Yallock from Lillydale. So after taking the train from the city we climbed on the bus at Lillydale station for the twenty minute ride. With the drivers appearance and his choice of Classic Rock FM it was easy to imagine we were on some biker gangs annual grand day out to the Yarra Valley.
After finding where they hid the toilets we wandered down the hill to the site of Woori Yallock station and sat down for an early lunch of Tuna & Mayo buns with coffee.
We had missed the train to Lillydale by over 45 years but the route is now a well maintained track for walkers, cyclists and the occasional horse with rider. We set off with a confident stride with the open fields of the valley on our right and the slope of the hills to our left. Past patches of pine trees and woods of gums. Over low bridges and through cuttings. We heard birds and banjo frogs and the kilometers passed by. Flies by the dozen pester you whilst their friends hitch a free ride on your back pack. As an express we passed through Killara Station but pulled up at the platform at Seville for Lamingtons and more coffee.
Then we were off again and climbed slowly as a railway does up the side of the valley arriving at Wandin station. Here we had our first major road to cross, gone are the days when the cars waited for the train. Then we had to divert up the hill to the village centre for the modern railway lacks convenient conveniences.
Back to the track and you notice the changes. You are in the woods now, there are more and different birds, Crimson Rosellas and Kookaburra amongst them. Cuttings and high embankments are the order of the day to cross the hills before us and the gradient is against you. It has actually been uphill all the way but we had not really noticed until now.
Eventually we arrive at the summit of the line and Mount Evelyn station site. Time for a second round of Lamingtons, a little trail mix and the last of the coffee. The gradient is steeper now but downhill and the last part of the journey begins.
They are building a bridge over the highway at Lillydale but until it is done you are forced to cross the busy six lane highway without the aid of a crossing if you want to faithfully follow the route to the station. You would also need a pair of cutters as part of the route has been incorporated into the grounds of Mount Lillydale Mercy College. The alternative is to follow the boundary fence down, along and then back up until you meet a small bridge across the cutting which would have seen many a labouring engine pass beneath it.
The home stretch, as you descend towards Lillydale station a section of rails to your right indicates the also closed line to Healesville. A minor deviation through the park, then into the station car park, up to the platform and your modern commuter train is waiting patiently to take you home.
Twenty three kilometres in just under five and half hours. A good days stroll.
After finding where they hid the toilets we wandered down the hill to the site of Woori Yallock station and sat down for an early lunch of Tuna & Mayo buns with coffee.
We had missed the train to Lillydale by over 45 years but the route is now a well maintained track for walkers, cyclists and the occasional horse with rider. We set off with a confident stride with the open fields of the valley on our right and the slope of the hills to our left. Past patches of pine trees and woods of gums. Over low bridges and through cuttings. We heard birds and banjo frogs and the kilometers passed by. Flies by the dozen pester you whilst their friends hitch a free ride on your back pack. As an express we passed through Killara Station but pulled up at the platform at Seville for Lamingtons and more coffee.
Then we were off again and climbed slowly as a railway does up the side of the valley arriving at Wandin station. Here we had our first major road to cross, gone are the days when the cars waited for the train. Then we had to divert up the hill to the village centre for the modern railway lacks convenient conveniences.
Back to the track and you notice the changes. You are in the woods now, there are more and different birds, Crimson Rosellas and Kookaburra amongst them. Cuttings and high embankments are the order of the day to cross the hills before us and the gradient is against you. It has actually been uphill all the way but we had not really noticed until now.
Eventually we arrive at the summit of the line and Mount Evelyn station site. Time for a second round of Lamingtons, a little trail mix and the last of the coffee. The gradient is steeper now but downhill and the last part of the journey begins.
They are building a bridge over the highway at Lillydale but until it is done you are forced to cross the busy six lane highway without the aid of a crossing if you want to faithfully follow the route to the station. You would also need a pair of cutters as part of the route has been incorporated into the grounds of Mount Lillydale Mercy College. The alternative is to follow the boundary fence down, along and then back up until you meet a small bridge across the cutting which would have seen many a labouring engine pass beneath it.
The home stretch, as you descend towards Lillydale station a section of rails to your right indicates the also closed line to Healesville. A minor deviation through the park, then into the station car park, up to the platform and your modern commuter train is waiting patiently to take you home.
Twenty three kilometres in just under five and half hours. A good days stroll.