There’s something about the ambience of real wood and antique pressed tin in all its historic grandeur that feels royal.
So it might even be considered poetic to take a ride in a vintage train on King’s Birthday weekend.
Steamrail Victoria will bring two of its heritage K-Class steam locomotives to Shepparton for the first steam special it has hosted in the region since 2019, for its planned Shepparton Steam Weekend.
Operations manager Jeremy Lavery says the long weekend’s schedule will look different from past steam events in the city.
“When we used to run up there, it was a trip based out of Melbourne, rather than what we’re doing this time, which is shuttles for the locals,” Mr Lavery said.
The COVID-19 pandemic and track upgrades in the past few years have made it difficult to run an event in Shepparton, but after expanding its shuttle-based services to more regional areas recently, Mr Lavery said it was time to trial a similar service in the Goulburn Valley.
“We’ve been doing Ballarat for about 15 years now and last year we did some regional shuttles down in Sale and Bairnsdale,” Mr Lavery said.
“We’ve done Bendigo and Warragul in the past couple of years as well.
“It’s something we haven’t done before in the area, and the Goulburn Valley is large population-wise and growing, so it’s probably about time we came up and tested the waters.”
While a trip to Shepparton from Melbourne (and stops in between) on Friday and back again on Monday will be available, steam engines — a K153 and a K190 — will haul the train on Saturday and Sunday and run north of Shepparton to Congupna and Tallygaroopna for 50-minute return trips.
While the fully restored locomotives were built in the 1940s, the country compartment-style carriages guests will ride in date back to 1908. Along with their wood veneer panelling and pressed tin ceilings, their windows open so travellers can get a true taste of the historic steam train era.
The heritage trains travel about 80km/h and “a little slower up the hills” according to Mr Lavery, which he said was about 50km/h slower than modern Australian trains on the same corridor.
“The train back to Melbourne on Monday will have a vintage diesel on the back helping out as well because we’ll have a few extra carriages for our volunteers to stay in on the weekend,” Mr Lavery said.
The event has been in planning for about four months and will be brought to life with the help of about 25 volunteers.
Pre-booking your train rides is recommended to guarantee your preferred time slot, but tickets will be available at the event if you’re willing to risk missing out.
“Our Ballarat weekend in May had sold 70 per cent of tickets before it started and then was completely sold out on day one,” Mr Lavery said.
The train will include a licensed kiosk car with light snacks, beer, wine and souvenirs for sale.
All one-way trips are timed to meet with regular V/Line services so passengers can return at their leisure.
For more information, or to buy tickets, visit: www.trybooking.com/CQZGQ