Full steam ahead for Easter

STEAMRAIL Victoria will be in town over Easter weekend offering short shuttle trips around the area as well as longer rides to Echuca on an antique train and carriages.

Part of Bendigo Steam Weekend, the event will be a homecoming for steam engine R711 which resided in the park across from Bendigo station until the mid-1990s.

Steamrail Victoria board member Eddie White said the Easter weekend was the ideal time to hold the event.

“Because of the Bendigo Easter Festival we run a diesel-hauled train to Bendigo from Melbourne Sunday morning,” he said.

“We are running our steam train from Bendigo to Echuca on Saturday and shuttle trips around Bendigo on Sunday.

“Then steam engine R711 will go on the front of that diesel Sunday night to take itself and everyone back to Melbourne.”

Mr White said traveling on an old steam train was an experience of yesteryear.

“You’ll ride carriages that are over 100 years old, you can open the windows and smell the smoke and hear the whistle,” he said.

“It’s about enjoying the ride and going back in time and experiencing how it used to be years ago.”

Mr White said locals may recognise the locomotive from its stay at the Bendigo train station park over two decades ago.

“It was taken out and restored to service in 1995,” he said. “So, it has ties with Bendigo. That’s why we have decided to bring that one back.

“The engine is actually owned by the City of Bendigo and is leased to Steam Rail. We try and bring it back home to Bendigo a few times a year.

“There are a lot of young parents who probably recall climbing all over the engine when it was in the park. Now she is restored back to active service for them to ride properly.”