Central Highlands Tourist Railway (Daylesford Spa Country Railway)

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the place now called Victoria, and all First Peoples living and working on this land. We celebrate the history and contemporary creativity of the world’s oldest living culture and pay respect to Elders — past, present and future.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website may contain culturally sensitive material — images, voices and information provided by now deceased persons. Content also may include images and film of places that may cause sorrow.

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From the collection of Central Highlands Tourist Railway (Daylesford Spa Country Railway)

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About

The museum is the railway reserve between Daylesford and Bullarto. The museum preserves and recreates the railway landscape, buildings, structures, technology, procedures, and human skills of the Victorian Railways between Daylesford and Bullarto. The museums policy is that the most effective way of encouraging an interest in the importance of railmotors and railways to the communities of Regional Victoria, is for people to experience as passengers the sights, sounds and sensations of a railmotor journey along a branchline as it was in the days of the Victorian Railways. Every Sunday visitors can enjoy a living history railmotor journey in a restored railmotor along nine kilometers of the former Victorian Railways branchline from Daylesford in the 1970s to Bullato which is being returned to the 1930s condition.

Our collection

Victorian Railways Daylesford Branchline Collection

The DSCR has three major collections. 1) The major focus of the landscape collection is on how the 1880s branch line railway construction standards through semi-mountainous terrain had a dramatic and lasting effects on the natural landscapes through which the railway was constructed, and subsequent modifications up to the 1970s. There are fine examples of cut-and-fill earthworks, sharp curves and steep gradients used to reduce the construction costs as far as possible. 2) The infrastructure collection scattered along the nine kilometers of railway contains systems and items dating from the opening of the line in 1880 till a few years before closure of the line in 1978. The Daylesford station area is being restored as far as possible to its 1970s condition while at Bullarto replica infrastructure of the 1930s station is being developed. Large infrastructure items at Daylesford include a 1882 passenger station building and goods shed, an 1899 rare adaptation of a through steel plate girder bridge and a 70 ft turntable installed in 1937. 3) The branchline rolling stock collection includes the most comprehensive collection of railmotors and trailers to survive that operated on the Victorian Railways. They date from from 1925 to 1970. Three railmotors dating from 1930, 1950 and 1970 are operational, three are currently being restored and four await restoration.

Themes: Connecting Victorians by transport and communications, Transforming and managing land and natural resources