Twin railway link
The Walhalla Goldfields Railway has a “twin” in England.
A “twinning agreement” has been signed with the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in Devon in south-west England.
WGR president Michael Leaney suggested the agreement after seeing the English railway during a visit earlier this year.
The main aim is to improve both tourism and heritage railways through transferring ideas and information.
But Mr Leaney also pointed to another major benefit - the development of an exchange program for young volunteers with the railways to experience and gain practical experience with their “twin” organisation.
Mr Leaney said there were many similarities between Walhalla Goldfields and Lynton and Barnstaple railways.
He said both are narrow gauge tracks in remote regions, operated for only short periods and were not overly successful in their original short service lives. The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway ran from 1898 to 1935, Walhalla from 1910 to 1954.
Mr Leaney said both were totally dismantled after closure and have since been rebuilt from scratch by volunteers to have a second life as successful tourism ventures.
He said the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway restarted services over 1.6 kilometres of track at Woody Bay station on Exmoor in July 2004 and was currently undertaking a huge task of buying back 30 kilometres of railway reservation that was sold off after its commercial closure.
The Walhalla Goldfields Railway started rebuilding in 1993 and had its first trains operating in March 2002.
It operates on 3.6 kilometres of track through Stringers Creek Gorge.
Mr Leaney said it was planned to shortly begin seven-day a week operations with a new railmotor and to then extend the track towards Erica.