Railton was first surveyed in 1853 by J.M. Dooley and is the second largest town in the Kentish municipality. It was probably named in 1868 and grew as a result of the rail line constructed by the Mersey and Deloraine Tramway Company in 1885.

The township soon had a hotel, three churches, a school, telegraph station and a local turf club. Early settlers lived in slab huts and were mainly occupied in farming or timber cutting. One feature of particular note is Railton's very wide main street.

The street was built this wide to accommodate the bullock teams making their way to the Railton Railway Station to load produce at the only railway in the Kentish district at the time.

By the 1900s, Railton was a flourishing timber trade centre and had 2 sawmills.

Cement Australia at Railton is one of Australia's largest cement manufacturers, producing more than 1.2 million tonnes of cement a year, and is one of the North West's leading employers. The history of the Company dates back to 1923 when, as Tasmanian Cement, cement production began.

Goliath Portland Cement Co. Ltd. was formed in 1928. In 1989 Goliath became a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian Cement, a joint venture company owned by CSR and Hanson, operating as Australian Cement Holdings.

The name of the company was changed to Australian Cement in early 1999.

In 2002 a merger was announced between Australian Cement Holdings and Queensland Cement Limited. Cement Australia is the name of the new company formed as a result of the merger on 2nd June 2003, with the name Goliath now only applying to the cement produced.

Production has increased from a few hundred tonnes a day in the 1920's to a current rate of over 3,500 tonnes a day. Over 90% of the cement produced is transported to interstate terminals, with 10% sold in Tasmania.

Railton these days promotes itself as the "Town of Topiary".

It started when a group of interested residents and business owners decided to form their own topiary working party to promote the theme within the local community, with the aim of communicating the idea to local residents, and gaining increased community and council interest and support for the theme.

The Railton Topiary Group was formed and they have been working ever since with endless enthusiasm to encourage more topiary to be planted, assisting people to re-shape existing hedges into shapes and assisting with advice on frames and plants.

Railton is a short drive from Devonport via Latrobe and it is a part of Tasmania's "Outdoor Art Gallery". There are more than 100 living sculptures of character topiary waiting to be discovered.

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