Victorian Goldfields Railway 20th anniversary from Castlemaine to Maldon

in 1969 the Maldon to Shelbourne was closed due to a devastating bushfire that damaged 7 wooden trestle bridges and most of the infrastructure it was decided to close the line in 1970 leaving only the Castlemaine to Maldon branch open. sadly good things must come to an end and in 1976 the line was closed, Several steam-hauled specials were the last trains to venture through the overgrown tracks to Maldon, as soon as the line was closed preservation moves were underway, thus formed the Castlemaine & Maldon Railway Preservation Society (C&MRPS). With membership drawn from both rail enthusiasts and local residents, they had to enough to purchase a locomotive, the locomotive in question was ex Victorian railways K class K160 which was purchased in 1979 and was moved to the old Mayfair complex in 1980 and later transferred by rail to Castlemaine for further restoration, a further purchases from funding by the locals got them wooden bodied carriages and 3 more steam locomotives (E371 K157 and J549) in April 1986 a few weeks away from easter K160 was transferred by truck to Maldon where it touched the rails and was towed by an 0-4-0 locomotive (probably an F class by my description) The Official Re-opening was on Easter Saturday, 29th March 1986 with the noted historian Prof. Geoffrey Blainey declaring the Railway open again with a distance of about 1 kilometre being pushed by K160 and pulled back again when it reached the end of the line as track restoration progressed, the trip length increased in stages. By Easter 1996 Muckleford was reached, where K160 could uncoupled and run around and head back to Maldon. State and Federal Governments funded the restoration of the 8 kilometre section of line between Muckleford and Castlemaine was commenced in 2001. but here layed a problem, you see A small number of ballast and grain trains continued to run the old section operated by the freight company Pacific National and couldn't seem to let the line up to C&MRPS. just a small section couldn't be obtained which was the Maryborough junction meaning the railway couldn't go ahead until 17th December, 2004 where a temporary closure of the Castlemaine - Moolort Section of the Maryborough Line by Pacific National was closed meaning C&MRPS could go ahead and by 18th the first train from maldon to Castlemaine reached the station after 18 years with public touring trains run the next day, and finally the Official Opening into Castlemaine was on the 20th March, 2005. what a great job they did getting this line opened again. if you want to help out at the Victorian goldfields railway head over to their website to help them out.