Tourist trip to Warrnambool comes with royal touch

Seymour Railway Heritage Centre president John Croft revealed his vision for the popular event on the city's racing calendar during a vintage train visit to Warrnambool on Saturday.

There are just two horse boxes left, but they are in a dilapidated state and need to undergo up to $100,000 worth of repair works.

"I've got a vision that we could bring it down here on the front of the train and the horses could be lead off, not racehorses but walers hopefully, for the Jericho Cup," Mr Croft said.

"That could begin the celebration of the weekend's activities for the Jericho Cup. How good would that be. It would be fantastic.

"We're in big discussions about bringing this train down for the Jericho Cup which I think would be phenomenal."

The restoration project is yet to be funded but has been floated with the Warrnambool Racing Club.

Former club chairman Margaret Lucas took a tour through the train on Saturday and said she would love to see the horse boxes restored.

"We used to take our ponies down to the Melbourne Show every year in the horse box in the 1960s," she said.

"I used to ride in the box because someone had to be with the horses."

The train arrived at Warrnambool station on Saturday to take 46 passengers back to Melbourne in right royal style.

"We certainly want to bring the train back for the Jericho cup. And we want to do more business with Captain's Choice whose charter today is the very first trip," Mr Crofts said.

The train trip is the last leg of a luxury trip around regional Victoria which flew into Mildura on Monday aboard private jets.

After paddle steamer rides and a silo art trail tour around Horsham, passengers then visited the Grampians and Dunkeld's Royal Mail Hotel before heading to Warrnambool for the night, taking in the sights and returning to Melbourne aboard the train.

Mr Croft said Captains Choice started in the mid-90s chartering Qantas 747s and taking a small groups to people to exotic locations across the world.

"Of course with no outbound international they came to us with this model about this time last year, when it was clear COVID was going to be a big factor, to create this product," he said.

This tour, and another scheduled for 10 days time, sold out. But Mr Croft is hoping there will be more train trips in the future as part of a plan to boost regional tourism.

"It's high-end stuff but a massive injection into the regional economies and that's what we'er trying to get the politicians to understand," he said.

"This is not a rail enthusiasts product, this is actually a serious tourism product and can really help develop the Warrnambools and the Bairnsdales and the Echucas. This is really where we are coming from."

Passengers were free to roam the whole train which includes the state car what was used for royal visits.

Mr Croft said it was built in 1912 and was one of only five state cars ever built by the Victorian Railways. Only two state cars remain, but the other is steel, not timber.

"It was for vice-regal and royal travel. So the only time the carriage was used was by the governor as he, or she in later years, traveled around the state or for royal visits," he said.

"It was not used for any other purposes."

Read more:

Royal train to visit

While royal visits may not have been that often, Mr Croft said the state car was used more than you think because the governors loved to use them to travel around the state. "Who wouldn't," he said.

The state car was famously used by Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their 1983 Australian tour and the Queen and Prince Phillip in 1954 Australian tour.

"It has two adjoining bedrooms with a divider. A lady in waiting compartment and an equivalent for men. His and her bathrooms and a kitchen area and a salon club lounge area," Mr Croft said.

At the end of the train was the parlor car which was built in 1906 and used to go on the end of the Sydney Limited train which would stop at Albury.

"It was every bit as opulent as the state car," he said.

"You paid a supplemental fare above and beyond the first-class fare to be able to access the parlor car."

Heritage pictures of Victoria are located throughout the train, but taking pride of place in the luxury lounge of the parlor car is a picture of Warrnambool's Hopkins Falls.

The train was pulled by the B74 streamliner - the first mainline diesel locomotives delivered for the Victorian Railways in 1952.

It was also pulling the 1937 dining car for the Spirit of Progress.

"It was the first all steel, all air-conditioned train in the southern hemisphere and one of the first in the world. Fantastic technology of the time in 1937. It was like off the planet," Mr Croft said.

He said travelling on old-style trains was becoming more popular. "We sell heritage, we sell nostalgia," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly podcast The Booletin and Beyond:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.

CORONAVIRUS STORIES:

Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.