On Friday 21 August attendees and partners have the option of visiting the SteamRanger Heritage Railway in Mount Barker, and joining in on a specially chartered ride on one of Adelaide’s old Redhen Railcars, as well as a tour of the SteamRanger Heritage Railway facilities.
This is an extra cost for both attendees and partners.
One of Adelaide’s ‘Redhen’ Railcars as used by the SteamRanger Heritage Railway. ‘Redhen’ was the nickname given to the 300 and 400 class diesel-hydraulic railcars designed by the South Australian Railways and built at its Islington Railway Workshops between 1955 and 1971.
SteamRanger Heritage Railway
SteamRanger Heritage Railway operates a number of different heritage steam and diesel hauled tourist trains between Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills, up over the crest of the southern Mt Lofty Ranges, down to Strathalbyn and on through the coastal holiday towns of Goolwa and Port Elliot to the tourist resort town of Victor Harbor.
Trains operate over 200 days a year and are manned by volunteers from the Australian Railway Historical Society, who are also responsible for maintenance of the rail line and the heritage locomotives and carriages.
You can see more about SteamRanger Heritage Railway on their website.
Where is it?
The SteamRanger Heritage Railway is located in Mount Barker, an easy drive up the South Eastern Freeway from Adelaide.
If you are planning on driving yourself to Mount Barker for this event, be aware that the car park at the SteamRanger Heritage Railway is often full on most days of the week, so allow extra time to find a car park and get to the station!
The event
For those people who won’t have their own transport available, or would like to take the scenic option and have someone else do the driving, we will have a bus departing the Hopgood Theatre on Friday morning to get people to Mount Barker.
Tours of the facilities will take place first. If we have sufficient interest, we will split into two groups for the facilities tour, which will take about one hour.
After the tour finishes, we board the Redhen railcar for our journey to Strathalbyn. On arrival at Strathalbyn, there will be a 15 – 20 minute stop before the train returns to Mount Barker.
After arriving back at Mount Barker there will be a short break before the bus departs to return to the Hopgood Theatre, with time for people to freshen up prior to our Welcome event which will start at 18:30.
The Program
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 11:30 | Bus departs Hopgood Theatre for Mount Barker |
| 12:45 – 13:45 | Tour of the SteamRanger Heritage Railway Facilities |
| 14:00 | Train departs Mount Barker |
| 15:00 | Train arrives at Strathalbyn |
| 15:20 | Train departs Strathalbyn |
| 16:20 | Bus departs Mount Barker |
| 17:30 | Bus arrives at Hopgood Theatre |
NB: Times are approximate and subject to change
If you would like to take part in this event then don’t forget to add your tickets on your order via our ticket purchasing page