By Jodie Symonds
Yarra Valley Railway volunteers completed bridge works along the Tarrawarra Estate to Yarra Glen section on Tuesday 24 January.
Vice-president Brett Whelan said two bridges including the one on the Tarrawarra Estate site were the last to be completed.
Thanks to funding from Casey MP Tony Smith, he said a total of 16 bridges were redeveloped by the railway over the last couple of years.
“It’s an amazing effort considering it’s all been done by volunteers,” Mr Whelan said.
“ … about a hundred thousand hours went in with around 600 individual volunteers participating.”
Mr Whelan said the bridges were built using second hand bridge beams that came from VicRoads, VLine and the Yarra Ranges Council to limit costs.
Work on the Tarrawarra Estate bridge started in late 2015, but Mr Whelan said due to the bridge being in a low lying area, wet weather conditions made the work difficult to complete.
“That was probably one of the hardest bridges,” he said.
“It’s good for it to be completed and the guys have done a fantastic job.”
Yarra Valley Railway plans to start work on the Tarrawarra station site and Yarra Glen station this year.
Mr Whelan said volunteers would work on the platforms at both sites, and once completed they would continue to get drainage and formation back together.
