The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine. History The original line was opened on 16 June 1884, opening up rail access from the established station at Castlemaine to the towns of Muckleford and Maldon. The area was prosperous, as Castlemaine and Maldon had both experienced gold rushes in the preceding years, and local residents had been petitioning the government for a railway since 1874. On 2 August 1884, a contract was let for an extension to Laanecoorie, however further construction was suspended after the line reached the small town of Shelbourne in 1891. The line was served by twice-daily trains for the first forty years of its life, which was increased to four-times-daily trains in 1924. However, these were cut back at the end of the 1920s due to a decrease in the local population, and passenger services were eliminated altogether during World War II. This meant that the line was used by only a weekly goods train which went through to Shelbourne. When bushfire damage caused the closure of the Shelbourne extension in 1970, the remainder of the line was rendered largely useless, and it was officially closed in December 1976. The response to the closure from the local community was swift, and the Castlemaine and Maldon Railway Preservation Society was founded in the same month, with the intention of reopening the line as a tourist railway. While Maldon station was intact, and was able to be used as a base for their operations, they were faced with numerous problems: a line that needed substantial repairs, a lack of rolling stock, and rebuilding the demolished station at Muckleford. Reconstruction Over the next decade, volunteers obtained and renovated rolling stock and by 1986, trains were able to operate on a one kilometre section of track out of Maldon. By 1996, the line from Muckleford to Maldon had been restored, with the platforms being reinstated and a small replacement building being constructed. Services were able to operate along a regular timetable, and the society set about reopening the Muckleford-Castlemaine section of the line. The project received the support of the local, state and federal governments. The necessary physical work had largely been completed by 2003, but it took another year to secure the necessary approvals and sign an agreement with