Introduction

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On Sunday 30 May 2010, Daylesford Spa Country Railway members and volunteers were over the moon at the announcement by Geoff Howard, Member for Ballarat East, that the railway’s application to the State Government for $80,000 towards the cost of an undercover storage facility for the railmotor collection had been approved.

DSCR director Barry Fell said “This was the 19th application we had submitted to both State and Federal Governments over the past 27 years for such a shed. I suppose the moral of the story is: never give up, even after 18 rejections!”

The shed will be constructed on the formation of the former Daylesford to Ballarat railway which closed in 1953 behind the East Street industrial estate. It will house the railway’s collection of Victorian Railways railmotors spanning from the 1920’s through to the 1970’s.

In 2007 a Heritage Victoria funded study found the collection to be of State significance.

Mr Fell went on to say “The railway will be contributing $40,000 in cash, this being the last of the surplus built up prior to the February 2009 bushfire. It is a testimony to the railway’s prudent financial management that, even after that devastating blow, we are able to do so, as the shed is critical to ensure the long term sustainability of our tourist and heritage operations”.

Daylesford Spa Country Railway volunteers will also be contributing in-kind by laying all of the required track work.

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