Railway buildings still in situ

The Alexandra Timber Tramway is custodian to a number of historic former railway buildings.  These include the Alexandra station building constructed by local contractor J. F. Webb at a cost of £1010 6s 9d and completed on 28 July 1911.  In the early 1970s the Alexandra and District Historical Society took over the station buildings to establish a museum.  At that stage, the station yard was already overgrown and the buildings beginning to look dilapidated.  A $50,000 grant was obtained from the Federal Department of Transport & Regional Development to undertake major repairs to the station buildings.  These repairs were largely completed in 1997-1998.  Other original buildings at Alexandra include a double-section goods shed, which is used to house our carriage set and a small workshop for the repair and reassembly of internal combustion engines.  Attached to the goods shed is a small office used in the last years of the line and now converted to volunteer accommodation.  Also on site is the original gang shed used in maintaining the Cathkin to Alexandra Railway and, at the north end of the yard, is the last railway crane used at Alexandra.

Railway buildings moved on site

When the Mansfield railway line closed, many of the remaining buildings quickly became derelict.  Two van-goods sheds, one from Molesworth and the other from Cathkin, were purchased by the ATT in 1990 and moved by low-loader to the Alexandra Timber Tramway site and re-erected.  “Cathkin” is used as the way and works shed while “Molesworth” is used to house and maintain our fleet of ride-on mowers.

Former Ruoak locomotive shed

When Clark & Pearce (later Ruoak Timbers) purchased the two Kelly & Lewis diesel locomotives in 1935-1936, a large double-track engine shed was constructed at the Alexandra sawmill to house the locos.  This building had to be removed in 1995 to make way for expansion at the mill, so it was carefully disassembled and moved to the Alexandra station site where it was reassembled and repainted in the olive green it last wore in mill service.  This is one of only two surviving light railway locomotive sheds in Victoria (the other being that of the former McIvor firewood tramway at Tooborac).