$125,000 funding boost for Victorian Goldfields Railway

VGR vice president John Hoy, president Steve Strangward, board member Tony Llewelyn, restoration volunteer Tom Donaldson, Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards and Mount Alexander Shire Council CEO Darren Fuzzard are pictured with the newly restored carriage Acheron.
VGR vice president John Hoy, president Steve Strangward, board member Tony Llewelyn, restoration volunteer Tom Donaldson, Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards and Mount Alexander Shire Council CEO Darren Fuzzard are pictured with the newly restored carriage Acheron.

Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR) is steaming ahead with plans for the next stage of its infrastructure works thanks to a $125,136 grant towards strategic planning.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited the VGR yards at Castlemaine on Wednesday to announce that the non-for-profit volunteer organisation had won funding from the ‘Enabling Tourism Fund’ towards the final planning stages for the heritage steam train linking the historic gold mining towns of Castlemaine and Maldon.
The announcement comes just days after Ms Edwards announced $120,000 in funding to assist the Castlemaine-Maryborough Rail Trail with crucial planning.
Ms Edwards said VGR is an icon for Central Victoria and the government are continuing to invest in improving our tourism drawcards for the region.
“We’re providing the foundations for investments that will grow tourism and create jobs across the state,” she said.
“We know how well loved the railway is by the communities of Castlemaine and Maldon. This funding will enable you to do the work that’s required to build on what you already have here and look at expanding the project,” she said. See the Mail for the full story…

Lisa Dennis
Editor of the Castlemaine Mail newspaper and senior journalist on our sister paper the Midland Express. Over the last 24 years Lisa been proudly reporting news in the Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges communities.