Steam in Australia 2017

• West Coast Wilderness Railway and West Coast Heritage Centre, Zeehan in Tasmania 
• Don River Railway and the Redwater Creek Railway in Tasmania 
• Launceston Tramway Museum and the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre in Tasmania 
• Perth Area Attractions in Western Australia 
• Preserved Steam Road Engines in Australia

This report covers Melbourne Area Attractions in Victoria.

"The Puffing Billy Railway was in full swing, as friendly as ever. We were lucky to catch the Garratt working. The museum at Menzies Creek is still closed, work's not yet finished. Note for visitors: Best book your tickets in advance if going during school holidays. Trains get booked up! Also beware: the week after our visit they could only operate a reduced diesel service due to a fire ban. We also went to the National Steam Centre at Scrawsby. They have a steam up on the last Sunday of the month. Two traction engines in steam and a large shed full of stationary engines, all connected to a boiler and in steam. The miniature line was diesel: no steam locomotive available. Another place we visited was the 7 1/4" gauge Diamond Valley Railway in Eltham Park. A fascinatingly complicated layout, fully signaled from two boxes. But unfortunately no steam running due to heat/fire risk."

Two of the steam road engines at Scrawsby are shown on a separate page. Here are some of the stationary steam engines:

As it happens James Waite was here in early February 2017 and Kevin's reports offer an ideal opportunity to showcase what he saw:.

"At last I got to see G42 in action and in fact it was a bonus week as it was working the first and last trains of the day instead of just the usual midday lunch special, and the light was much better, particularly for the morning train.

I was very lucky with the weather with two days of cloudless skies on the Saturday and the Sunday. There was, however, a price to pay as Monday was declared a total fire ban day throughout Victoria, the first of this summer, and so the trains were diesel-hauled. Ironically it rained all day.

As ever everyone at the railway was really kind and helpful. The line itself is definitely a world-class one and it always strikes me as strange that it doesn't receive more attention from the gricing community.

I went for a ride on the Monday and was surprised to be asked if I was a Talyllyn member (I am) as this entitled me to a free ticket. Had I been going all the way to Gembrook it would otherwise have cost me about £40, considerably more than the TR's annual sub for oldies!

I was lucky to see the little Peckett tank loco in the workshop in these photos as it normally lives inside a Thomas the TE casing and was in for a check over before the Thomas season starts later this month. It spent its working life at the West Melbourne gasworks."

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