Complex sentence: The route to Woorragee and from there to Yackandandah was steep; trains descending the last gradient into Yackandandah would halt (near the now Yackandandah turnoff, from the Beechworth-Wodonga Road) so the guard could apply hand-brakes to carriages and wagons.
Split into simpler sentences: The route to Woorragee and from there to Yackandandah was steep. Trains descending the last gradient into Yackandandah would halt (near the now Yackandandah turnoff, from the Beechworth-Wodonga Road), the guard would apply hand-brakes to carriages and wagons.