Easter Steam Train to Bendigo! Steamrail Bendigo Easter Festival Train 2024

On Easter Sunday 31st March 2024 Steamrail Victoria visited Bendigo to take passengers to the Bendigo Easter Festival. The first mainline steam trip of the year; locomotive R711 led the train to and from Bendigo with diesel locomotives T364 and S301. The tour was notable as it was S301's first mainline run since 2010; having recently been donated to Steamrail by Pacific National last month.
We start the video with the trip to Bendigo, seeing the transfer from Newport and the departure to Bendigo outside Southern Cross Station at the La Trobe Street Bridge (a spot I was able to take advantage of for once as I was surprisingly able to find a nearby car park :D ). It was an usually cool and misty morning in Melbourne and we see this with cloudy skies at Sunbury and complete fog at Riddles Creek. After that the sun came out making for a rather warm day. We see the train pass through the old stations at Elphinstone and Taradale, before seeing the train pass through the Oak Street level crossing in Golden Square.
For the trip back the train was delayed a hour after missing its path out due to a late-running V/Line train from Melbourne. We see the departure from Bendigo at Golden Square and Kangaroo Flat. We see the train outside Castlemaine and crossing the impressive Taradale Viaduct at sunset. With light fading we see the train pass through Macedon, before finishing up at Diggers Rest.
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[@mikec1163]

Absolutely fantastic!!! Gosh I love your work. Especially the Australian scenery. So unique. Sunbury is my fav station!

[@G516R700]

Fantastic video mate, great to see 301 back in service after a bit longer than a decade of being hidden away basically. Hope it gets used again soon

[@geoffreythorburn8030]

Great video thanks for that.

[@michaelformaini7053]

Thought I should view your version of this trip after seeing Adrian's. I had a shorter day out to Bendigo than yours for several reasons. You did rather well considering the foggy start and I'm very impressed with the Harcourt and Taradale Viaduct sequences - a good bit of luck in that the train was on the main at Taradale.
Brrr! what a chilly start! Memories of over 40 years ago pacing such excursions on a motorcycle - young and foolish in those days (No further comment from the peanut gallery, please). I had a big chuckle at "Grunter the Shunter" copping a great bath of steam from R711 (3.43-4.12).
It was a pity the return train was delayed almost an hour but the given reason for that isn't entirely correct. My observation is that the locos came off the pit across to the yard after the 15 28 up departure and that the points from the main to Platform 2 at Bendigo Station were aligned for a set back from the yard (but not the yard to main points - possibly a time release issue) before it was decided to allow the 16 28 up to depart on time from Platform 1.
While there may have been a rostering issue, it might have been better for the locos to have gone across to the yard earlier as pumping up the 11 vehicles and ensuring continuity through the train from three locos may have required a longer time than was available. The opportunity to set back from the yard was lost by the late arrival of the down train forming the 16 28 up. I note that the return train departed from Platform 1. There may be other reasons for the delayed departure beyond what I observed so my thoughts are open to correction by more knowledgeable others who might care to comment.🙂😉🙂

[@Alice-gm6io]

Do you use an external mic?

[@Sumaiya.Chowdhury-tani]

Is 3801 gonna go to Penrith via Melbourne and Brisbane