Unfortunately, this does not mark the return of a public train service to Mildura. It does, however, mark the beginning of private train services the general public is permitted to travel on.
This is the last photo I will be posting of today’s 707 Vinelander tour to Mildura until it starts the journey back to Melbourne on Monday morning.
We were told today that a heritage train actually ran in 2016. It was just a single car DERM run by DERMPAV. This Vinelander would be closer to what was regularly seen on the line before its closure (an N class + 5 N sets + guards and power van
Let’s use this to lobby for a vline to Mildura
May as well! I think the vast majority of people who either like trains or who live in Mildura are. If they’d dual gauged Maryborough to Ballarat and Ballarat to Geelong, it would be so much simpler. But I don’t think anybody would be upset over a shuttle from Maryborough to Mildura either
Is the dual gauge a difference between freight and passenger trains, or is it a holdover from when gauges were unregulated and every state used a different gauge?
Update: I discovered today this actually isn’t the first passenger train to Mildura since '94. DERMPAV organised a single railmotor up here in 2016. This still is the first proper train though