Friday, 31 January 2025

Upgrade for Muckleford Station

By Alan Hart

Vice President Maldon Men’s Shed

Muckleford Railway Station is a non-attended middle station on the Victorian Goldfields Heritage Railway line between Castlemaine and Maldon, Central Victoria. The Steam train regularly stops at this station and passengers are allowed to alight to look around.

As a community project, some members of the Maldon Men’s Shed decided to do something to enhance the station. It was noted that there were no passenger seats at this station for patrons to sit on. The Maldon Men’s Shed had access to some long river red gum poles and decided to use some of these poles to plank out and make some bench-style seats for the Muckleford Railway Station.

About seven members of the Shed were involved in the design, cutting and planking, assembly and painting over several weeks. Once the parts of the bench seats were completed and assembled, they were delivered to the railhead at Maldon and transported by rail to the Muckleford Railway Station. The railway staff and volunteers then dug the holes and meticulously levelled them up to ensure both bench seats were level with each seat. They were then concreted into the ground and treated for termite (white ant) attack.

A great community project initiated by the Maldon Men’s Shed. In return, The Victorian Goldfields Heritage Railway, having recently replaced a large number of red gum sleepers, supplied some sleepers to the Shed to finish off the borders to their new gardens at the Maldon Men’s Shed.