The Daylesford Spa Country Railway (which is operated by the Central Highlands Tourist Railway) is a volunteer-operated 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gaugetourist railway located in Victoria, Australia. It operates on a section of the formerly disused and dismantled Daylesford line and currently runs services between Daylesford and the hamlet of Bullarto.
History
Victorian Railways era
The original line was opened in two stages—from the mainline junction at Carlsruhe to the town of Trentham, on 16 February 1880. The remainder of the line was opened a month later on 17 March. The line initially had significant goods and passenger traffic, with 50,000 passengers travelling the line in 1884 alone. However, over the next seventy years, both traffic and the quality of line gradually degraded, until the last passenger service was replaced with a road coach in 1978.
Reopening as a tourist railway
The Central Highlands Tourist Railway was founded two years later, and set about restoring the railway to operating condition. After several years of restoration, trolley services commenced to a temporary terminus located in the Wombat State Forest in the latter half of the 1980s. On 15 September 1990 rail services commenced between Daylesford and the nearby hamlet of Musk. Another section of line was opened on 17 March 1997, allowing services to operate as far as Bullarto. As the station had been demolished, this required building a new platform and installing a portable station building. In 2002, the organisation changed its trading name from the Central Highlands Tourist Railway to the Daylesford Spa Country Railway.
On the evening of 23 February 2009, bushfires in the Daylesford region destroyed 1.6 kilometres of track running through the Wombat State Forest, with about 2000 sleepers destroyed, rails buckled, and the last two broad-gauge cattle pits on a running railway in Victoria destroyed.[1] As a result, services were truncated, running out of Daylesford on the 1.7 km of line which remained unaffected.[2] The repairs were expected to cost $250,000.[3]
In August 2010, services to Musk were reinstated after repairs to the damaged section through the forest, and the rest of the line through to Bullarto was reopened in December 2013.[4]
DRC40, a DRC railcar which is preserved and operational.
102 hp Walker railmotor 7RM, under long term restoration.
153 hp Walker railmotor 32RM, under restoration.
280 hp Walker railmotor 91RM, preserved and operational.
280 hp Walker railmotor 82RM, which is stored, spare parts for 91RM.
Walker Trailer 56MT
Y159, a Y Class Diesel locomotive.
RM74 passenger mail motor number 74, currently under restoration.
Current operations and extension plans
Sunday market adjacent to Daylesford station
The railway operates every Sunday, with six services on its regular time table from Daylesford to Bullarto and return. On the first Saturday evening of each month, the railway also operates the Silver Streak Champagne Train.[5] The railway also runs a weekly Sunday market on land adjacent to the Daylesford station, which provides revenue and helps to promote its services.
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
