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BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

Our Snow Train Adventure

8 Aug 2019 9:31 AM | Anonymous

August 4 started off with a cold but sunny morning and I can honestly say that the excitement in our house was something like the night before Christmas. 

We arrived at Pakenham early and I was surprised at how many other travellers and members were there bright, early and so very excited.  Not all the travellers joined the train at Pakenham, it started its trip at Southern Cross and picked up from around 7 other stations along the way, which made this a great way to travel.

You could hear and see everyone at the station (and others just waiting to see the train pull in) looking anxious and excited, and then you hear it, that amazing TOOT  TOOT, from this majestic old steam train. You can’t yet see it but you can feel and hear it and then around the corner you see the plume of smoke and everyone cheers and she pulls into the station.

We all then got herded onto the train quickly, as they have limited time at each station.

We choose to travel first class (only $5 extra), as these carriages were heated.  I'm not sure why you would not have all carriages heated but I guess it is an old train.  We had some lovely people in with us, who shared very similar interests and the time from Pakenham to Moe went quickly, it was great to see all the train watchers along the tracks, as we went past.

Arriving at Moe was super organised with six buses waiting to take all the travellers going to the snow away, once they had pulled out, four more busses arrived within minutes to take the travellers to Walhalla, we were on the Walhalla bus.

Arriving in Walhalla around 11.45am we went straight up to the Long Tunnel Extend Gold Mine for the 12pm tour.  There was a great turn out with over 30 of us doing this tour.  Some choose to have lunch first and do the 1.30pm tour. 

The tour was quite amazing, learning about how long it took them to tunnel through the hard rook face to finally reach the quartz shelf 9 years later.  It was amazing and to see the conditions the men worked in was incredible.  If you are ever in Walhalla, this tour is a must.

We were very lucky as the town was fairly deserted apart from four bus loads of our travellers.  It was so peaceful and relaxing, you felt like you were stepping back in time.  Such a lovely little gold mining town.

One piece of information we learnt on the tour, was because of the steam engines which kept the mine working, this enabled the town to have street lights as early as 1914(ish) but once the mine closed, the electricity stopped and Walhalla has just celebrated 20 years of electricity, they had to run on generators for all that time until 1998. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering around the town and then took the little train up and back through the valley, a little chilly but a lot of fun.

4pm came around and off we all went back to Moe to return to the steam train.  We were all a little cold and hungry and were surprised to find the local Scouts and Lions Clubs set up with BBQs going, with sausages and hamburgers and hot pumpkin soup - not to forget tea and coffee, which I can say, was well received and just before the train was due in.  They had sold out of sausages and hamburgers and nearly the soup.  Well done guys, very clever thinking.

Back on the train you could hear a few children crying.  It was a long day, but the gentle rocking of the carriages soon rocked the children off to sleep and quite a few of the bigger kids too. 

What a day, I recommend it to all who have not grown up, as this is truly a magical experience. 

Well done to the staff and volunteers, as they had us all organised and feeling very special all day.  Brilliant job.

Look out for this event next year, as it will be something we will do again as a club.

Jo Mawson |  Member #2
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

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