Authors Mark Cauchi and Owen Ryan have pieced together an incredible story of the early days of this railway line. As is so often the case with railway construction in Victoria during the 1880s, it is a story of political intrigue, in which the larger-than-life figure of Sir Thomas Bent plays a part. After politically-connected local landowners in Richmond successfully thwarted efforts to built a railway through their district, the isolated Clifton Hill to Alphington railway sat idle for over a year, a source of embarrassment to the Victorian Government given the significant expenditure on the line with its substantial earthworks and 600 foot-long viaduct over Merri Creek. Enter Messrs Danks and Barnes with their proposal to operate the railway line with a private tram service, in what can be regarded as Australia’s first urban light rail operation. While no photographs are known to exist of the remarkable tram, it was a technical if not a financial success. It ran for over two years, before connection of the Clifton Hill line to Royal Park and the rest of the VR network enabled the operation of conventional trains. A fascinating and little-known episode in the story of Melbourne’s early railways.