Friends of the Bendigo-Kilmore rail trail

Linking central Victoria via the old railway line

Cycle tourism advisory group established

Leave a Comment Posted by on May 15, 2012

Last Wednesday’s community forum saw a great turnout to discuss Bendigo’s cycle tourism potential. A small group of volunteers representing mountain bike and road bike riders, the rail trail and Heathcote community now forms the core of a new advisory group.

The group’s task is to assess the potential of various cycle tourism opportunities, advise council and the Bendigo Tourism Board on priorities, and assist in seeking funding opportunities.

The new group will meet within the next fortnight to map out its workplan.

Uncategorized

Forum looks at Bendigo’s cycle tourism potential

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 29, 2012

What is Bendigo’s cycle tourism potential? How do we harness it to benefit local clubs and businesses? The Friends have organised a forum to ask what other cycling groups and businesses think.

If you watched any of the Tour de France last year, you might remember the Ballarat cycling ad that played constantly during the coverage. Then there’s the Cycle Ballarat website, the Cycle Ballarat Facebook page and @CycleBallarat tweets. Ballarat, among other regional centres like Shepparton, has been actively pushing its cycling credentials. Can Bendigo do the same?

>From competitive to recreational, Bendigo too has something for every flavour of cyclist. Wrap cycling up with our huge range of accommodation, food, wine, art and heritage offerings, and we have a unique tourism product. Show that promoting cycle tourism brings visitors to Bendigo and we have evidence that investment in cycling infrastructure brings not just wellbeing, but financial returns.

We believe that by drawing together Bendigo’s cycling groups and the business community, we could turn Bendigo into the cycling destination with a full calendar of competitive and recreational attractions.

We’d like to hear what you think. Join us for the forum:

Facilitator:          Keith Sutherland
Guest speaker:   Clayton Neil, Economic Development Manager Alpine Shire,
former cycle tourism officer Murray to Mountains rail trail.

When:                Wednesday 9 May, 7.15 pm for 7.30 pm
Where:               Bendigo & District Cycling Club Rooms, Tom Flood sports centre (off Water Street)
RSVP:                Helen Cronin, helen@scratchpad.info or 0419 875 801, by Monday 7 May

We look forward to seeing you there.

Activities, Community consultation

Exploring the Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 29, 2012

There’s nothing warms the heart of a rail trail fan like a new rail trail to explore. So while we dream of our own long-distance trail, we decamped to Yea last weekend to check out the newly-completed Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail between Tallarook and Alexandra. (If we’d had a third day we would have headed out to Mansfield as well.)

Eight intrepid explorers rode the 40 km between Yea and Tallarook on a beautiful autumn Saturday. Most were sensible and organised a car shuffle for a one-way trip. Two decided that things always look different going the other way, so they clocked up 80 km on an out-and-back trip. Ten rode the trail between Alexandra and Yea on a grey Sunday. Read more of this post

Activities

Station signs on the way

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 29, 2012

The Friends have been promoting the return of railway station/platform signs to the sites of  stations between Bendigo and Heathcote and were successful in applying for a council community grant last year for some of these sites. Well, we’ve finally got agreement on what the signs will look like and how they’ll be constructed.

The original 19th century station signs were made of timber with painted letters (later replaced with cast iron letters), but it’s been decided that the maintenance requirements would be far too high if we were to recreate them in timber. Instead the new signs will be white vinyl lettering on a black aluminium sheet background with a 25 mm frame and anti-graffiti coating. They’ll reproduce as closely as possible the original size and style of the lettering.

It is expected that all these previous important hubs of commerce and transport will be signed over the next two years. They’ll be good company for the reproduction mile posts that have been created and installed along the existing trail by ever-creative Friends member, Ken Hanson.

Works

Rail trail research guru being interviewed

Leave a Comment Posted by on April 2, 2012

Dr Sue Beeton, the guru of rail trail research in Australia will be interviewed on ABC Central Vic (91.1 FM – or online) on Wednesday 4 April at around 8.50 am. If you can, tune in to hear what she has to say about the importance of research like this in backing arguments for developing and maintaining existing rail trails and establishing new trails.

Research

Axedale students take the rail trail to school

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 25, 2012

Around 20 students from the Axedale Primary School cycled to school on the O’Keefe Rail Trail on National Ride2School Day, Friday 23 March in the company of parents and the Friends of the Bendigo-Kilmore Rail Trail – and the kids said they loved it.

Around ten senior students, parents and three members of the Friends group started their ride at 8.00 am at Longlea Lane adjacent to Peppercorn Park. They met around ten junior students adjacent Arakoon Park who finished the ride to school with them. And finally they picked up a prep student on his bike with training wheels at the end of the trail.

Primary students on bikes prepare to ride to school along the trail

On the trail: senior students prepare to ride to school along the rail trail.

Principal, Lex Johnstone, said that he recognised that the trail offered a safe route away from the busy highway and roads for students to build the skills and confidence needed to ride to school. Read more of this post

Activities

New Axe Creek bridge complete

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 25, 2012

We’re excited: the new bridge over Axe Creek is now open! No more sliding down the bank to cross the creek – the new bridge crosses at the same elevation as the trail. You can now ride across on your recumbent or tandem bicycle or with your tag along or baby chariot in tow, or push the pram or walk your horse.

The new pedestrian, cycling bridge over Axe Creek

Open access: the new bridge over Axe Creek opens this part of the trail to users who couldn't cross the old swing bridge.

Cyclists crossing the suspension bridge at Axe Creek

Past times: the old swing bridge is now a part of the trail's history

Works

​Looking for ideas to manage our historical collection

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 8, 2012

We’re now amassing a great collection of material that we’d like to organise and make available via our web site for others to use as well. Can anyone suggest a tool that meets these criteria:

  • Free (or at least not very expensive)
  • Relatively simple to maintain (i.e. doesn’t require a degree in IT!)
  • Able to store photographs, documents, audio and/or video files with appropriate text descriptions and meta data
  • Allows online searching, filtering and browsing

If you know of the perfect tool, please email us.

History

​”Desperately Seeking” rail trail’s history

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 8, 2012

The Friends History Action Group recently placed a notice in the Desperately Seeking column of the Herald Sun and have since been overwhelmed with the response. Train buffs have appeared all over the state with photographs and stories of the line while it was in operation. Some of them we’ve collected here.

One of the gems is a letter dated 5 October 1882 from the Sandhurst, Heathcote & Seymour Railway League demanding the mayor call a public “indignation meeting” to “protest the rejection of the railway line from Heathcote to Sandhurst (the necessity of which is too apparent to require comment, in view of recent events.)” We’re not sure what those recent events were, but sometimes the Friends empathise with the frustration of the Railway League!

Text of letter

Friends, History

Friends clean up

Leave a Comment Posted by on March 8, 2012

Twenty-seven pairs of hands arrived to work on a section of the O’Keefe Rail Trail on Clean Up Australia Day, Sunday 4 March. It was the biggest turn-out since we’ve been taking part in the event and meant we were finished within a couple of hours. Apart from the usual bottles, lunch wrappings, foam coffee cups and cigarette packets, we collected a roll of rusty barbed wire and an oxygen cylinder. The recent soaking rain has made for a lot of happy frogs and all sorts of colourful and delicate fungus, and the work done on the existing trail surface has held up well in the wet. Thanks to everyone who came to help.

Two girls pick up rubbish on the O'Keefe Rail Trail
Emily Davis-Tope and Madi Targett helped out on the trail.
Picture: Julie Hough. Source: Bendigo Advertiser

Activities, Friends

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