When the Mornington Tourist Railway’s heritage steam locomotive couples to its historic carriages, the scene delights children and adults alike.
Since volunteer railway enthusiasts rescued the locomotive from static display in a Frankston park in the 1980s, it has been lovingly restored to working order and become the centrepiece of the railway.
“The public love it, especially the kids; we get people coming onto the platform, and they're just blown away by what they see,” Mornington Tourist Railway president Andrew Swaine said.
The railway operates on land made available through a VicTrack community lease. It is one of more than 400 community leases that enable not-for-profit groups to repurpose underused buildings or land for cultural, social or recreational activities that benefit local communities.
“The fact that we're actually here is primarily due to VicTrack, because this piece of land is VicTrack land; so, we're indebted to VicTrack for making it available to us,” Andrew explained.
The lease gives the railway a long-term tenure and enables it to plan future projects. The railway’s volunteers, in turn, help to manage the land and give new life to decommissioned historic rolling stock, including some very rare carriages.
It's really important that we preserve these things for future generations. We can also bring economic benefit to the region.
The tourist railway operates steam and diesel hauled train rides from Mornington to Moorooduc, with hopes of extending operations a further five kilometres from Moorooduc to Baxter.
“We get so many positive comments from customers who have travelled on the train telling us what a great experience they had,” Andrew said.
“I think we're really bringing joy to a lot of people on the Peninsula. And to me, that's very exciting.”
The railway’s collection of rolling stock has grown from the first steam locomotive to a diesel engine and several historic carriages – several donated by VicTrack after they were withdrawn from service.
The railway is currently working to restore a 1906 railway carriage to its former glory, while trying to keep it as close as possible to its original design.
The carriage – known as Car 7CV – is a VicTrack-owned guard’s van. It was allocated to Mornington Railway after residing at Seymour until 2015.
Volunteer carpenters have been lovingly restoring the car using modern materials, while trying to keep it as true as possible to the way it was originally made.
There are more special projects in the works. In addition to a planned expansion of the railway, a planned restoration of a former royal carriage will allow the railway to introduce a premium service.
The Mornington Tourist Railway operates train rides three times every Sunday with special services on some public holidays and school holidays.
When the Mornington Tourist Railway’s heritage steam locomotive couples to its historic carriages, the scene delights children and adults alike.
Since volunteer railway enthusiasts rescued the locomotive from static display in a Frankston park in the 1980s, it has been lovingly restored to working order and become the centrepiece of the railway.
“The public love it, especially the kids; we get people coming onto the platform, and they're just blown away by what they see,” Mornington Tourist Railway president Andrew Swaine said.
The railway operates on land made available through a VicTrack community lease. It is one of more than 400 community leases that enable not-for-profit groups to repurpose underused buildings or land for cultural, social or recreational activities that benefit local communities.
“The fact that we're actually here is primarily due to VicTrack, because this piece of land is VicTrack land; so, we're indebted to VicTrack for making it available to us,” Andrew explained.
The lease gives the railway a long-term tenure and enables it to plan future projects. The railway’s volunteers, in turn, help to manage the land and give new life to decommissioned historic rolling stock, including some very rare carriages.
It's really important that we preserve these things for future generations. We can also bring economic benefit to the region.
The tourist railway operates steam and diesel hauled train rides from Mornington to Moorooduc, with hopes of extending operations a further five kilometres from Moorooduc to Baxter.
“We get so many positive comments from customers who have travelled on the train telling us what a great experience they had,” Andrew said.
“I think we're really bringing joy to a lot of people on the Peninsula. And to me, that's very exciting.”
The railway’s collection of rolling stock has grown from the first steam locomotive to a diesel engine and several historic carriages – several donated by VicTrack after they were withdrawn from service.
The railway is currently working to restore a 1906 railway carriage to its former glory, while trying to keep it as close as possible to its original design.
The carriage – known as Car 7CV – is a VicTrack-owned guard’s van. It was allocated to Mornington Railway after residing at Seymour until 2015.
Volunteer carpenters have been lovingly restoring the car using modern materials, while trying to keep it as true as possible to the way it was originally made.
There are more special projects in the works. In addition to a planned expansion of the railway, a planned restoration of a former royal carriage will allow the railway to introduce a premium service.
The Mornington Tourist Railway operates train rides three times every Sunday with special services on some public holidays and school holidays.
