Steamrail quite often run short or long trips with their restored steam engines. I’d not been on a steam train since I last went on Puffing Billy, probably in the mid-90s.
The other month we booked our tickets and hopped on a train at Flinders St and went out to Sunshine and back.
I guess this is the K153 then
Engine, other end
coming into flinders st
The carriages were restored Red Rattler carriages. I am old enough to remember catching these when they were run the metro lines (along with the blue Harris trains, the silver Comeng’s were super special NEW trains. LOL!).
long line of carriages
Back end of train
Windows, doors
Red rattler carriages
They’ve been restored and are really nice inside now
seats inside the train
Ceiling in Red rattler carriages
It was a good thing to do. There is something truly magic about Steam engines, and black, well designed train is a thing of pure beauty.
They are not entirely comfortable to ride in. More jerking around, not a smooth ride, you can feel the strain as they take off. The chuffing noise is awesome, but the smoke curling into the window at once point was pretty naff. Acrid and unpleasant!
Actually one of the best things was going through some of the suburban stations and seeing the bafflement and confusion on the faces of the metro travelers as a steam train chuffed by.
I will be doing a weekend trip some point soon, methinks.
