April 29th, 2024TRATA plans for former railway station

In the second half of the 19th century Trentham was a major hub for timber production, much of which went underground supporting the tunnels excavated at mines in nearby Daylesford.

And so when a railway was constructed between Carlsruhe and Daylesford branching off the main line to Bendigo, Trentham was one of the stops.

The first section to Trentham opened on February 16, 1880. To service freight and passengers a handsome weatherboard station house and 80m platform was installed complete with extra rail sidings and goods sheds. Sadly by the 1970s the old line was being used less and less as its bridges, tracks and rolling stock fell into poor repair, and in June 1978 the line was closed for good.

For many years the old station and railway yards were neglected until around 25 years ago when a group came together to try and save it. The preservation group has been known by several names over the years but in July 2023 it became the Trentham Rail and Tramway Association and the new committee has some new plans in place to utilise the precinct.

“Our association maintains and preserves the entire precinct allowing the community to use the facilities for events in the town including the Tractor Pull, Spudfest, classic car shows, and any other events deemed suitable,” says TRATA president Leigh Sutcliffe

“We realised we could actually utilise this space a lot better,” says committee member Rob Urquhart. “It could be a centre for the whole town and hopefully draw more people from outside the district to discover what we have here. We have always been told it is one of the best preserved stations around and we are pretty proud of that.”

Work on the area has certainly taken on some newfound momentum with financial and material assistance coming from a range of sources. And in February they were fortunate to receive small project funding from VicTrack which they put towards landscaping.

The group has also received grants from a number of local businesses and Hepburn Shire Council. This has allowed them to put in picnic tables built by the men’s shed and rebuild the front gates as per original. Committee member Lea Davis has also been doing a lot of work on rejuvenating the whole garden precinct.

“We are trying really hard to give it a feel of an English garden,” says Lea. “It is early days yet but we have planted rhododendrons, dogwoods, foxglove and magnolias all the way down along the station.”

In previous years the precinct was the site of the Trentham market and the tourist information centre. However Covid lockdowns put an end to the market and the information centre is to be relocated to the new Trentham Hub currently under construction. But there are plans to bring the market back after winter.

Leigh says the the old station needs to be re-stumped so they will be looking for additional support to start that project in the near future.

Words & image: Tony Sawrey