Daylesford Spa Country Railway
Map with all coordinates: | Daylesford Spa Country Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 DRC40 at the Daylesford depot
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| Gauge : | 1600 mm ( Irish track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Daylesford Spa Country Railway , the first from the Central Highlands Tourist Railway was operated, is run by volunteers broad gauge - museum railway with 1600 mm gauge in Victoria , Australia . It uses a previously closed and dismantled section of the Daylesford - Carlsruhe railway line and currently (2015) operates trains from Daylesford to Bullarto .
history
Era of the Victorian Railways
The line was originally commissioned in two stages: on February 16, 1880 from the junction of the main line in Carlsruhe to Trentham and two months later, on March 17, 1880 for the rest of the line between Trentham and Daylesford. The route initially had significant freight and passenger traffic with 50,000 passengers in 1884. But the traffic and condition of the route deteriorated over the next 70 years until passenger traffic was taken over by buses in 1978.
Reopening as a museum railway
The Central Highlands Tourist Railway was established in 1980 to bring the railway line back into service. After several years of restoration work, rail buses ran from a temporary terminus in Wombat State Forest in the second half of the 1980s. On September 15, 1990, trains began operating between Daylesford and Musk . Another section of the line was put back into operation on March 17, 1997, so that the trains could run to Bullarto. Because the station had previously been demolished, a new platform and a temporary Portakabin station building had to be built. In 2002 the operating company changed its name from Central Highlands Tourist Railway to Daylesford Spa Country Railway .
On the evening of February 23, 2009, forest and wildfires ( bushfires ) near Daylesford destroyed one mile of the track through the Wombat State Forest, burning around 2,000 sleepers, twisting the rails and burning the last of the broad-gauge cattle trucks left in Victoria . After that, the museum railway only ran the 1.7 km of the undamaged route. The repairs required were estimated at AU $ 250,000.
In August 2010, operations to Musk were resumed after the damaged line had been repaired, and the remainder of the route to Bullarto was reopened in December 2013.
Rolling stock
- Leyland railmotor 53RM, will be restored on a long-term basis.
- Diesel electric rail engine DERM RM63, ready for operation.
- 26MT, a trailer for the DERM, ready for use.
- DRC40 rail bus, ready for operation.
- 102 hp Walker railmotor 7RM, undergoing long-term restoration.
- 153 hp Walker railmotor 32RM, being restored.
- 280 hp Walker railmotor 91RM, ready for use.
- 280 hp Walker railmotor 82RM, stored as a spare part dispenser for the 91RM.
- Walker trailer 56MT
- Y-class diesel locomotive Y159.
- RM74 passenger mail motor 74, is being restored.
Current operations and expansion plans
The railroad operates every Sunday with six scheduled trips from Daylesford to Bullarto and back. The Silver Streak Champagne Train operates on the first Saturday evening of each month . The railway workers also organize a promotional Sunday market at the train station, the proceeds of which go to the railway.
literature
- Osborne, M., (1993?), Timber, Spuds and Spa , A descriptive history and lineside guide of the railways in the Daylesford district 1880-1993, Australian Railway Historical Society : Victoria Division, ISBN 0-85849-044-7 .
Web links
- www.dscr.com.au - Official website
Individual evidence
- ^ Daylesford Spa Country Railway in jeopardy. (No longer available online.) In: Hepburn Advocate. www.hepburnadvocate.com.au, archived from the original on July 6, 2011 ; Retrieved September 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Daylesford Spa Country Railway Timetable. (No longer available online.) Www.dscr.com.au, archived from the original on September 14, 2009 ; Retrieved September 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Daylesford Spa Country Railway seeks $ 1.7m for repairs. (No longer available online.) Www.hepburnadvocate.com.au, archived from the original on July 6, 2011 ; Retrieved September 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Regular Operations to Recommence between Daylesford and Bullarto. (No longer available online.) Daylesford Spa Country Railway, archived from the original on January 2, 2014 ; accessed on January 1, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Daylesford Spa Country Railway Timetable and Fares. ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 37 ° 20 ′ 29.7 ″ S , 144 ° 9 ′ 14.8 ″ E