The opportunity will be available later this year for a rare trip on the railway branch line north of Dimboola.

As part of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre’s (SRHC) Wimmera Shiraz & Jazz tour in early October, their train, hauled by two of their heritage diesel locomotives, will visit Great Western, Murtoa, Horsham, Nhill, and Rainbow across a four-day trip.

The highlights of the trip include wine tasting and a tour of the underground cellars at Seppelt’s at Great Western Winery, a visit to Murtoa’s Stick Shed, a lunch and Jazz session and the Aviation Heritage Centre at Nhill, and the chance to ride the rails north of Dimboola on the little-travelled Rainbow branch.

The four-day trip will depart the organizer’s depot in Seymour on the morning of Friday 9, October and travel to western Victoria via Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station and North Shore at Geelong, visiting Great Western and Murtoa, before the train stables at Horsham and the patrons spend the night in local accommodation.

On Saturday, the train will continue to Nhill, where activities include a visit to the Nhill Noske Silo; lunch at the Nhill Community Centre with meals from Luv-a-Duck and music; and a visit to the Nhill Aviation Heritage Museum, before returning to Horsham.

The next day, the train will travel north for a day out in Rainbow. In addition to enjoying a rare rail trip along this line, which has seen only one passenger train in the last 26 years, there are several lunch options, and activities include the unique silo art installation on Lew Schilling’s silo and the Yurunga Homestead.

The train returns to Seymour via Geelong and Melbourne on the Monday.

Tickets can be purchased by locals to join either the Nhill Jazz Train on the Saturday or the Rainbow Day Out on the Sunday. The train can be caught at either Horsham or Dimboola on either day, and Jeparit on the way to Rainbow on the Sunday.

More information and tickets can be found on the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre’s website.

Planning is also underway for the SRHC’s heritage train to make another visit to the Wimmera Steampunk Festival in April next year and to make another rare visit to Serviceton, as it did as part of the 2025 festival.



* - The details contained in this article are supplied by SRHC and are subject to change.