Victorian Goldfields Railway

 
To celebrate my birthday, we took a train ride on the Victorian Goldfields Railway. This is a steam engine that pulls five cars between Castlemaine and Maldon. We purchased 1st class tickets and rode in what seemed to be the club car.




As we rode along through the bush, we enjoyed a reasonably smooth ride with all the expected noises.

Outside the greenery goes sliding by.

When we got to Maldon, when had a sandwich for lunch and checked out the local market in the town park. This fellow was selling chooks.

In town, there are buildings painted covered with old ads.

Out near the train station, there is this mildly interesting collection of street signs.

For the trip back to Castlemaine, we rode in what was originally the car for the ladies. Since the train is now going in the opposite direction, the first class cars are on the front of the train.

Outside this very Victorian interior, we can see the coal car and the engine.

Before we started, I left the train to photograph the engine. Here's the engine with our engineer.

And the boiler working up a head of steam to pull us along.

Here are the crew getting things ready for the return trip.

since the return trip put us at the front rather than the rear of the train, I could step out on the front of the passenger car and grab a few videos to give you a sense of what the ride was like. Here you can see the back of the coal car and hear the chuff-chuff of the engine.

In this one you can see the engineer looking foward to see what is on the track or where we are or something.

T'was a great ride.