Passenger train to Rainbow next Sunday
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| A passenger train will grace the rails north of Dimboola for the first time in twenty-five years next weekend. In conjunction with Murtoa’s Big Weekend, the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre will be running a special passenger train to the Wimmera that will transport patrons to the events in Murtoa and also provide the opportunity to travel to the rarely visited rail destinations of Beulah on the branch north of Murtoa, and Jeparit and Rainbow on the branch from Dimboola. Update – Wednesday – The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre announced this evening that their Shuttle to Rainbow on Sunday has sold out, but tickets remain for the return trip to Beulah on Saturday.The Spirit of the Wimmera train will depart Seymour this Friday, 4 October, and travel via Melbourne and Geelong, bound for Horsham, where it will be stable for the night. Above - A charter train operated by the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre at Beulah in August this year. On Saturday, the train will travel back to Murtoa, where the passengers will have to option of spending the day enjoying all that the Murtoa Big Weekend has to offer or remain on the train for a trip out the branch line as far as Beulah, with a stop to view the silo art at Sheep Hills. Saturday 5 October, 2024 - from HorshamSunday will see the train venture north-west from its base at Horsham to Dimboola, where it will veer off the mainline onto the Rainbow branch that has not seen a passenger train for twenty-five years since a special service to mark the centenary of the opening of the line to Rainbow was operated in October 1999. The train will pause at Jeparit to allow patrons the option of disembarking for lunch or a visit to the Wimmera Mallee Pioneer Museum. The train will then continue to the terminus at Rainbow, where a stop will allow time for lunch or a visit to the Yurunga Homestead. Time will also be allowed to view the silo art at Arkona on the return journey. Sunday 6 October, 2024 - from HorshamThis tour will not only cater for patrons travelling from Melbourne for the whole weekend, but Wimmera locals can join the train for the trips on each of the branches. Bookings are available via the link on the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre’s website. The last regularly scheduled passenger service north of Dimboola was operated by a railcar and ran for the last time on 30 January 1954, seventy years ago. This will be only the third passenger train to operate on this line since this part of the rail network was standardised in 1995. The Rainbow Centenary train and the first enthusiast special on the new gauge, hauled by locomotive B75 in March 1997, were the others. ** Train departure and arrival times are subject to change. This tour is subject to minimum group numbers being achieved. Seymour Railway Heritage Centre reserves the right to make changes to any details without notice. This article also appeared on the Dimboola Courier. |
