xenith | Rail Trip: How many train stations is too many?

I has train.

That is, the Victorian Goldfields Railway train. It runs from Castlemaine to Maldon, but only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so I had to structure my trip around the it.

The plan was... Wednesday morning take a Metlink train into Melbourne City/Southern Cross station, change to a Vline train for the 1.5 hour trip to Castlemaine, get off here for the stream train to Maldon, spend just under 2 hours then, catch steam train back, and another Vline train to Bendigo for the night.

Up until the day, I worried it might not be worth the hassle.

At the station, waiting to leave.

Ambient train noise!. A lot of background noise, but there was a lot of background noise.

Then comes the difficulty of trying to take a photo of a train while on it, without actually leaning out the window. Really only possible on a bend.

Even harder to get a photo of the train puffing out smoke, because it didn't all the time and corner + smoking didn't seem to go together.

VGR offers first class and economy tickets. The rear carriages are restored "First Class" carriages, which I think have separate compartments. The "Second Class" carriages seemed to be all open like modern trains. There was one economy carriage -- marked "First Class" so I assume it was an unrestored first class carriage -- with separate compartments. This is where we ended up :)

The hallway running down one side of the carriage connects the compartments.

There was one intermediate stop, at Muckleford, where a large group of kids and bikes were loaded on.

This is called "Trying to take a photo without sticking your head out the window because of the rocks". The slope isn't all from the camera though. I think this is at the end of the hill.

It was a very slow climb up the hill, due to the wet track. Slow as in "We could walk faster than this" and "Will we have to get out and push?" and "This would be a good spot for train robbers to strike".

Have there been any train robberies in Australia? I can't recall any stories.

Finally, it did regain its speed. Note the open window there letting in all the cold and wind, and occasional rain :(

Ha! Train AND smoke.

And that looks like it might be Maldon station.

Only half an hour late. That's a lot on a 45 minute trip, and it meant we only had an hour in the town :(

The station was burnt out in a fire. (Something involving a fridge, but I forget the rest.) They're raising money to restore and re-open it.

There's the train, for the return trip. K 160, if you want to check it out on the VGR stock list.

Heading back now.

I thought I should include some random photos of the Victorian countryside as seen from a train.

The problem with the return trip, from the photo angle, is it's the same views as the first leg but with that kid's head stuck in the way. Approaching Muckleford here.

Didn't stop this time. The return trip was faster overall., From the comments at the station on the return, the train even came in early.

I was trying to get photos of the smoke past the windows, but it comes out looking like blurry glass.

I went over to the other side of the train to take some photos, but the curve of the track was the wrong way, the hallway I was kneeling in was narrow so I was blocking it and that smoke had ash or something in it. I know this because I got some in my eye and a lot in my hair. I was brushing it out for days.