Reuters

The discovery of steam power just 200 years ago powered the Industrial Revolution but like all one-time technological breakthroughs, the world long ago shunted most steam trains onto the sidelines of history.

Yet despite cleaner, more efficient and cheaper forms of transport having taken over, in a small corner of rural Australia the sights, sounds and smells of the Industrial Revolution are still alive.

Puffing Billy is Australia’s last full time railway employing steam engines at its main source of power.

Holmes drives locomotive 12A across the Monbulk Creek trestle from Lakeside to Belgrave station.

A worker lies inside the smokebox of a steam engine undergoing an overhaul.

Puffing Billy is Australia’s last full time railway employing steam engines at its main source of power. Set in the picturesque Dandenong Ranges on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, this narrow gauge experiment was born from dour economic times in the 1890s.

For Puffing Billy driver Steve Holmes, whose life has been immersed in its soot and steel since he was painting carriages as a nine-year-old boy, steam, as much as blood, runs through his veins.

“I grew up at the end of the steam era, I’ve been around the engines all my life,” said Holmes, who became a driver in 2005.

The short railway - just 18 miles long and built in 16 months - boasted Victoria’s tightest railway curve and the maximum allowable speed was a mere 15 mph.

Barry Rogers, 70, washes locomotive 12A in the shed after hauling a train to Belgrave.

Puffing Billy trainee fireman Winston Martin lights a fire to put into the firebox of a steam locomotive, part of the four-hour-long process to prepare the engine.

These days, Puffing Biily still attracts thousands of visitors a year. But whether they are drawn to the old world charm, the beautiful scenery along the line or a trip down memory lane, what most will not see is the enormous physical effort required by staff and volunteers to keep the trains running.

A Puffing Billy steam train hauled by locomotive 14A crosses the Monbulk Creek trestle after leaving Belgrave station near Melbourne.

Staff at Lakeside put out a sign for the next arriving train.

Gary Pallister cleans grime off his hands after a day's work.

Nature intervened in a large landslide that covered the tracks and closed down operations in 1953. During a decade of decay and disrepair, public pressure to reopen the railway as a tourist endeavour began to build. In 1962 the railway was reborn, using mostly volunteer labour to bring the age of steam to new generations.

Puffing Billy steam engine fireman Barry Rogers, 70, wipes down locomotive 12A.

Puffing Billy steam railway guard Emma Pallister leans on the levers used to switch tracks.

Tourists take a 'selfie' picture in front of Puffing Billy steam engine

Over 250,000 people a year now visit the railway. Holmes and his extended “railway family” of hundreds of volunteers and paid staff stubbornly refuse to let Victoria’s narrow gauge heritage die.

“After all, the greybeards that want to see her running are not getting any younger,” he said.