General News
20 December, 2024
Talbot carriage finds new life
A 29 tonne train carriage was craned into the air and loaded onto a truck in Talbot last week as it began the next leg of its 60-year journey across the country.
Residents woke to find a large crane over their local railway station to remove the iconic red train carriage that was previously home to rail enthusiast and Talbot identity, the late Ralph Durr.
Named Perseverance, the carriage was originally used as a sleeping quarters and maintenence area for crews travelling between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta in the 1960s before it was relocated to Talbot nearly 50 years ago.
The carriage is now set to take on a new lease of life at a winery east of Bendigo where it will be restored into a cottage and cellar door.
Owners of Toolleen’s Pook Road Vineyard, Charlotte James and Guy Kidney said just like its namesake, the carriage’s journey to this point has been one of overcoming hurdles, describing the process as “a very long train journey” in itself.
“It’s called Perseverance, which we think is really great because it has been a real battle to get it to this point,” Ms James said.
“We love the name of it because it has taken so much perseverance to make this happen, the planning process was really long-winded.”
From planning permits, crane and truck hire and even navigating overhead powerlines, the carriage’s relocation was anything but straightforward.
“There is a lot that goes into being able to move things over power lines, the power has to be shut down, you need permits, but there’s also the risk of moving something of that weight,” Ms James said.
“There was a point when I watched it dangling in the air and I thought about the 29 tonnes of train carriage — there is a reasonable amount of risk involved in this.
“It has been quite stressful, the logistics and the planning, has been really challenging.”
The carriage came complete with most of the original living spaces intact, making it the ideal small and creative workman’s cottage the couple had been looking for after finding it by chance online.
“We’d looked at tiny homes, mobile homes, caravans, and all of these different things we could renovate and convert, and then this came up,” Ms James said.
“It was so different compared to anything else we’d seen.”
After the carriage was secured to the truck, the couple followed it on a two hour journey back to their property, where it was successfully lifted by another crane onto its new set of tracks.
The pair are hopeful of restoring the carriage by next year, including repainting it in its original colours of green and white, so the relic of Australia’s railway history can be preserved for another part of regional Victoria to enjoy.