The Don River Railway is a heritage railway and museum in Don, Devonport, Tasmania. It operates a service from Don to Coles Beach (operationally known as Don Junction). The current line follows a reconstructed section of the former Melrose line that ran between Don Junction and Paloona.
The Don River Railway is open seven days a week, closing only for Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Anzac Day. Train services operate from Thursday to Sunday, using either a Tasmanian Government Railways DP class rail car, or a heritage carriage set hauled by either a steam locomotive or a vintage diesel locomotive.
The heritage operations consist of the northernmost stretch of the Melrose line that ran from Don Junction (commonly called Coles Beach) to Melrose and Paloona. In the 1920s, the line was extended to Barrington, but this closed in 1928. Occasional trains ran on the closed section on Devonport Cup and Show days, but this ceased in 1935. The Melrose-Paloona section closed around this time, and following the 1948 closure of BHP's limestone facilities at Melrose, which had been the mainstay of operations on the line ever since it opened, the line was largely redundant. In October 1963, the railway was closed and later lifted.
The Van Dieman Light Rail Society was formed in December 1971. In 1973, it began pushing to restore heritage operation, which it did three years later operated, under the trading name Don River Railway.
In May 1987, it began operating main line services to Burnie. On 14 December 1991, the line was officially opened by the Governor of Tasmania, Phillip Bennett. Services originally ran into the main line Devonport station on the Western line before services were curtailed to operate between Don and Coles Beach.
On 4 April 2023, a fire destroyed a carriage shed and some carriages.
Fowler no.5268 is Don River Rail's sole operating steam locomotive as of December 2024, seeing occasional use both on timetabled services and for functions.
Former Tasmanian Government Railways M4 is currently receiving mechanical overhall. CCS25 was reactivated in January 2023, but awaits approval to return to revenue operations.