{"id":32996,"date":"2024-05-02T14:06:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T04:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=32996"},"modified":"2024-05-02T14:06:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T04:06:31","slug":"shire-of-murray-endorses-plan-to-revitalise-pinjarra-as-a-tourist-railway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=32996","title":{"rendered":"Shire of Murray endorses plan to revitalise Pinjarra as a tourist railway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Shire of Murray is one step closer to realising an ambitious plan to revitalise Pinjarra as a tourist railway destination including bespoke accommodation inside converted heritage train carriages donated by a local resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan to revitalise the Pinjarra railway station on Pinjarra-Williams Road into a railway heritage attraction through a $60.1 million revitalisation was endorsed by the Shire of Murray council at its April 18 meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steam and diesel locomotives take visitors through jarrah forest along a re-established Pinjarra to Dwellingup rail link on the Hotham Tourism Railway, which ceased operating on this section in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shire envisages the refurbished facility will \u201crival the likes of the Puffing Billy in Victoria\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shire president David Bolt said the project would revitalise the Pinjarra railway station with a heritage railway museum, visitor centre, cafe, event and community spaces and railway-themed play space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-ADVERTISEMENT-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe precinct will celebrate and pay respect to the past whilst enabling contemporary activities, legacies and stories to be created,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shire\u2019s plan for the precinct estimates it would attract 27,000 visitors in its first year of operation, create 90 jobs and $46 million of tourism and retail expenditure into the local economy over 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The
The shire\u2019s plan for the precinct estimates it would attract 27,000 visitors in its first year of operation, create 90 jobs and stimulate $46 million of tourism and retail expenditure into the local economy over 20 years.Credit: Shire of Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As well as endorsing the project, the council also supported including the Pinjarra Heritage Precinct and Dwellingup to Pinjarra Heritage Rail Project as a high priority in its 2025 State and Federal election lobby document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal will also develop \u201cniche high level short-stay accommodation\u201d in heritage railway carriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three carriages from the decommissioned Australind train and the heritage railway barracks, as well as nine heritage railway carriages and four heritage brake vans donated to the shire, will be converted into accommodation or food and beverage venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinjarra resident Colin Taylor donated the carriages and said it would be a \u201cgreat joy\u201d to see the carriages have a new purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy grandfather spent his working life as a steam engine driver on WA\u2019s railways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Pinjarra
Pinjarra resident Colin Taylor donated the carriages and said it would be a \u2018great joy\u2019 to see the carriages have a new purpose. Credit: Shire of Murray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt will bring me great joy to see these carriages live again and witness their history shared and celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shire has allocated $40,000 for tarps to cover the carriages to prevent damage, as well as clearing of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carriages were originally owned by Hotham Valley Railway general manager Ian Willis and purchased to be pulled behind the Flying Scotsman \u2014 considered the world\u2019s most famous steam locomotive \u2014 when it visited WA during Australian Bicentenary celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Perth Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shire of Murray is one step closer to realising an ambitious plan to revitalise Pinjarra as a tourist railway destination including bespoke accommodation inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,7660,4916,321,163],"tags":[472,8637,8636,4553],"class_list":["post-32996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-heritage-and-steam","category-heritage-railway","category-heritage-trains","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-australian","tag-pinjarra","tag-tourist-railway","tag-western-australia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32998,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32996\/revisions\/32998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}