The Etmilyn Forest Trail
At the Dwellignup Railway Station our steamengine already stood there, ready for the trip and as we had some time, everything had to be inspected.
The small map below shows the points of interest along the railway between Dwellingup and Etmilyn.
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Sometimes the train is hauled by a diesel engine.
When we were there, a dinnertrain was made ready for the evening, where they serve a 5 course meal.
The Darling Range, with its Jarrah trees, has been an important source of timber in Western Australia. Because of the difficulty of transporting sawn timber to the nearest port the railway was built and originates around 1870 and was the first railway built in WA.
By 1900 timber was one of Western Australia's major industries and in 1910 a Government railway was constructed from Pinjarra to Dwellingup.
This picture shows today's timber mill.
On the trip to Etmilyn a tape tells you where to see the main places of interest along the track. The train normally stops at those places to give the oppurtunity to take pctures or have a closer look.
In Etmilyn the locomotive is brought back to the front end of the train and the passengers have 30 minutes time to follow the waking path through the woods.
The loop trail is about 1 km long and easy to walk in the time until the train departs, even when you sometimes stop to have a closer look at the plants or take a picture.
There are plenty of trees and plants to see, such as Jarrah (those are the trees, which were cut down), Blackbutt, Red Gum, Blackboy, Banksia, Grass Tree and a variety of palms and ferns unique to this part of the forest.
Some of the Jarrah are very tall and therefore many years old.
And also some grass trees are higher than 2 m, which only grow about 1 bis 2 cm per year.
Now that the engine is the "right" way in front of the train, the remaining time before departure can be used to take some more pictures of the train.
Because it is the same way back, there is the chance to have a closer look at the countryside.
After 1 1/2 hours the train arrives back in Dwellingup and there you can take pictures again, visit the railway gift shop or the forest Heritage Centre nearby, or have a look at the Visitor Center to get an idea, what else you can do in this region.