Cheviot Station - VIC

This is the site of the former Cheviot Railway Station (1889 until 1978), which was part of theMansfield - Tallarook line. The rails have gone but an old goods shed survives (this is further back up on Cheviot Rd adjacent to what is now the Caravan Storage facility).

Back in the 1880s, the locality was named Cheviot after a nearby pastoral run called Cheviot Hills, which in turn was named after the locality on the English-Scottish border. It was also called Ross Creek (Ross Creek runs behind the ruins and shed on Cheviot Rd).

Timber was first hauled out of the forest to Cheviot by horse & wagon, then in 1905 a three foot gauge railway line was built to do this heavy and dangerous task. 1937 saw trucks take over the wood transport role. In 1922 Cheviot siding was fitted out with two large cranes for lifting the wood onto the rail to make the process of loading trains both faster and safer

From this location you can check out the shed, (this held superphosphate), and to the northeast you mustn't miss the Cheviot Tunnel, which provides an excellent example of brick workmanship of the nineteenth century. The bricks for the construction of the tunnel, were kilned on site, with the actual brick kilns, being about 250 metres away from the line, behind a woolshed, approximately 200+metres before the tunnel itself. The kiln site is still in existence. The site where the clay was quarried for the bricks, is now a grazier’s dam, & can be easily identified today. The kiln complex was connected to the Tunnel construction site, by a push powered tramway, delivering the finished kilned bricks to the work site as required. The formation of this construction tramway can still be identified today at the Yea end of the Tunnel at certain times of the year, due to soil disturbance, & the changing of grass colour

Numerous bushfires have devastated the area in 1939 and again in 1969 and you evidence of charred trees and scars are still visible.

The historic Cheviot Rail Tunnel is a key feature of the Tallarook to Mansfield Rail Line and hikers and cyclists travel through the tunnel as part of the route. The tunnel is located 3 kilometres North East from this point.