Campbelltown Miniature Railway, Narre Warren North closes after 35 years
WHO remembers the Campbelltown Miniature Railway? It’s been running for 35 years in Narre Warren North, but sadly, it’s come to the end of the line.
South East
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AFTER 35 years delighting the young (and young at heart), the trains at the Campbelltown Miniature Railways will pull into the station for a final time later this month.
Owner and operator Colin Campbell, 89, said it had been a pleasure bringing joy to the thousands who visited the Narre Warren North property over the years.
“You get the enjoyment of pulling trains around, full of kids and adults enjoying themselves,” he said.
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“Adults enjoy the trips a lot. I think it’s because they can remember what it was like when they were young and they remember their youth.”
Mr Campbell and his wife Nance, also 89, only recently decided it was time to hang up their conductor hats.
“We’re running out of steam, pardon the pun,” he said.
“At 89, we’ve decided it’s probably time to retire.”
“I will miss running the trains because I’ve liked it so much.”
Mr Campbell ran the tiny steam and diesel trains at carnivals before laying down more permanent tracks on a property of his own in Melbourne’s outer east in the early 1980s.
His friends and neighbours helped him build the elaborate miniature railway on the site, where he lived, worked and enjoyed life for the following three and a half decades.
“It was all built with the help of friends,” he said.
“We used to have an enormous lot of Christmas parties and we’ve had a lot of functions here.”
But the locomotive enthusiasts, who have now sold their 20ha property, won’t be going far.
They have plans to build a far smaller track on a 1ha block in Narre Warren North and might even take a few leisurely train trips in their retirement.
“I’ll get around on trains but I don’t think I’d ever work on them again.”
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