The Making Of Kojonup Tourist Train
The Kojonup Tourist Train is one of the major attractions in the town. It conducts regular tours to the Farrar Reserve and is loved by travellers from far and wide.
Travellers who are quite familiar with the region of Kojonup in Western Australia would admit that the place is a perfect getaway for people who love nature and wildlife. One of the most popular flora and fauna sanctuaries in Australia, the Farrar Reserve, lies within this town. The 1000 acre bush reserve offers Kojonup wildflower tours to locals and tourists all the year round. About 10 kilometres west of this area is where Don Hair, former president of Kojonup Tourist Railway, visualised a train that would later go on to become one of the top attractions in Kojonup.
It took nearly 4 years for transforming the dream project of Mr. Hair into reality. Local community provided huge support throughout in order to get the given line in action. The farmers donated plenty of logs, and 2 mills also volunteered effort as well as time for milling around 3800 sleepers. According to John Lewis, Vice-president of the Kojonup Tourist Railway, the work was humongous. After gathering logs from the farmers, they had to take the collection to mills. Once the logs had been cut, they were brought back and dropped off at Kojonup.
At first, the transformation of rubber wheels to steel of the train took place for a relatively long time. The train was then put on line for holding about 54 passengers, in order to undertake tours 4 kilometres west towards a place named Denny. The final piece of the puzzle was fitted on October 30, 2015, when the train ultimately got ready for running to Farrar. Everybody of the governing group, including current president Ned Radford, heaved a sigh of relief after completion of their goal.
President of Kojonup Shire, Mr. Ronnie Fleay, was amazed at the fact that a small volunteer group could achieve such a prodigious task. He said that there are plenty of aspirational plans about how the train line can be connected to the shire, because a beautiful reserve already exists at the end of the line.
As of now, the tourist train has already had a positive effect on local economy of the place. It is loved by most tourists & travellers, and has led to an increment in the number of people visiting the town annually. Besides that, there are few places all over the country which can provide such an experience. Regular journeys are undertaken to Farrar on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month.
