A generous private donation to the Victorian Goldfields Railways is now enabling the restoration of an extremely rare piece of the state’s railway history.
Aided by the welcome $10,000 surprise donation, a fourth year carpentry apprentice and VGR young volunteer who lost his paid carpentry job due to COVID, is now able to help VGR restore its rare but dilapidated vintage railway refrigerator car to former glory.
“I lost my job because of COVID in late April,” says 20-year-old Fletcher Cole who’s been a dedicated volunteer with the railway since age 14.
Now the young VGR volunteer has started putting his carpentry skills to good use to rejuvenate the early 20th century rail refrigerator car.
“This was built in 1911,” he says.
“The reason why it’s unique is that this one’s the last one that’s in operating condition.
“The walls are insulated with cow hair. There use to be a trough that ran along the roof filled with salted ice.”
In the days before refrigeration as we know it, this method using ice was needed to keep meat and other produce cold and fresh during transportation from regional Victoria to metro Melbourne.
“It’s not every day you get to preserve the last running examples of this kind of van,” Fletcher says.
“It’s very special. It’s unique.
“I’ve always loved trains. This is sort of living my dream, basically.” More in today’s Castlemaine Mail 21.08.20