This authorised local governments to build and run tramways in their shires provided the building cost of each tramway did not exceed the sum of $4000 per mile.
The idea was for each of the tramways to feed into the Victorian rail network.
For these tramways, the government allocated what was then an enormous sum of $400,000, which it had raised by means of a loan authorised by The Railway Loan Act 1885.
Shires building tramways would be responsible for repaying their share of the loan and paying the cost and maintenance of rolling stock.
Two tramways were constructed. The first was the Katamatite tramway.
Yarrawonga Shire Council (now Moira Shire Council) had been pushing for the construction of a railway connection to Katamatite and then on to Yarrawonga ever since the arrival of the railway in Dookie.
The Victoria Railways Commissioner always refused to consider it.
With the enactment of the Tramways in Country Districts Act, Yarrawonga Shire Council could now bypass the Railways Commissioner and construct a tramway at least to Katamatite.
The Katamatite tramway ran nearly 27 kilometres from Dookie to Katamatite and opened at the beginning of 1890.
At Dookie, it connected to an existing railway from Shepparton.
It had the same Irish gauge as Victorian railways — five feet three inches (1600mm) but it was built with a slightly lighter construction.
This limited the speed at which trains could travel on the tramway. The final cost of the tramway was $63,248.
It had four stations — Yabba South, Yabba North, Youanmite and Katamatite.
The second tramway was the Kerang-to-Koondrook tramway. Construction started in 1887.
It, too, had a gauge of 1600mm and ran for just over 22km.
It had five stations — Yeoburn, Hinksons, Teal Point, Gannawarra and Koondrook. It connected at Kerang to the Bendigo-to-Swan Hill line. This tramway cost $78,458 to construct.
Neither tramway proved profitable over the long term. Neither supplied a particularly useful transport infrastructure for local agriculture.
After unsuccessfully lobbying the government to take over the line, Yarrawonga Shire Council surrendered management of the tramway to the Railways Commissioner as early as 1892, just two years after it opened.
The Railways Commissioner ran the Katamatite line as a railway, but over time, the traffic on the line continued to fall.
A decision was made to cease passenger trains in 1953. Even grain trains stopped in 1987.
As late as 1926, meetings were still being held in support of a proposed link between the Katamatite line and the Benalla-to-Yarrawonga railway to the east.
It was suggested that such an extension would open up more markets for local produce and reduce transport times to Sydney. As always, this was rejected on an assessment of costs versus benefits.
Part of the Katamatite tramway can now be walked or ridden as a rail trail from Dookie.
The Kerang-Koondrook tramway lasted much longer. It had opened in 1889, but with usage falling over time, the Shire of Kerang surrendered the tramway to the Victorian Railways in 1952.
From then on, until 1976, the tramway was used as a rail service to deliver children to schools in Kerang. The tramway was finally closed in 1981.
Although not yet a rail trail, the line of the Kerang-Koondrook tramway is still clearly visible and can be walked or ridden from Kerang. All its stations still remain standing.
— John Barry
12°C