Five scenic train trips worth the drive to find
Not everyone has the time to do Australia's iconic train journeys like The Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin or the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth.Instead, here are our top five scenic train trips that are perfect for a quick taste of train travel – and worth the drive to find this weekend.
Byron Bay Train, NSW
Plenty of beachgoers arrive in Byron Bay driving a fried-out Kombi, or maybe a Volvo 240 with surfboard attached. But did you know you could also get there by train? Well, sort of! You can take a short ride on the Byron Bay Train, a restored two-carriage choo-choo that has been converted from diesel to the world’s first solar-electric locomotion. The trip along three kilometres of otherwise disused railway line gives a new perspective of Byron, and for $25 you get the return trip, lunch and beer, wine or cup of tea.
Mary Valley Rattler, Gympie, Queensland
If you’re visiting Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and are looking for a day trip with a difference, the Mary Valley Rattler is the antidote to too much sand and surf. A number of restored trains, including a real steam locomotive, follow the Mary River from Gympie to Amamoor and back again and are operated by the enthusiasts who revived the original railway line and trains. As a bonus, the Gympie station has a café and historical display and the trip takes in semi-tropical Amamoor State Forest.
Pichi Richi Railway, Quorn, South Australia
Here’s a chance to get a different view of the Flinders Ranges travelling on the Pichi Richi Railway which runs (usually) weekly trips out of Quorn. The railway takes in the rocky and scenic Pichi Richi Pass, part of the original Ghan line connecting Port Augusta to Alice Springs. The society that runs it has a number of steam and diesel trains and some beautiful 19th century carriages. The Sundowner Explorer is a kind of desert sunset cruise in a 1928 Barwell Bull railcar, or you could try the half-day steam-driven Pichi Richi Explorer. There’s many more events available and it makes an excellent stopover if you’re heading to the Flinders or beyond.
West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania
Tassie’s rugged west coast must have been a daunting prospect to the 19th century railway builders who put the train line in from the copper mines of Queenstown to the port of Strahan. The area is still beautiful but now more easily accessible thanks to the West Coast Wilderness Railway that does daily trips. The steam locomotive is an attraction in itself, but then there’s Strahan’s beautifully restored station and excursion packages that can include white water rafting or riding the loco’s footplate with the engineer.
Puffing Billy, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria
This is Victoria’s most famous train ride, using a section of railway opened just before Christmas in 1900 and now running between Gembrook and Belgrave in the shady Dandenongs about 40km east of Melbourne. Puffing Billy takes passengers across historic timber trestle bridges, through gullies of tree ferns and towering Mountain Ash so the scenery is magnificent. But then the stories of the historic stopping points, the chance for a picnic and just the train itself are equally wonderful.
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