Steam train a hit with Noah and the rest of Ballarat

Steamrail Victoria volunteers arrived on Friday with a trainload of visitors from Southern Cross Station and took several trips to Lal Lal and back over the weekend.

Steamrail Victoria volunteer Henry Owen said he was please with the turnout over the weekend.

"Some of the trips to Lal Lal (were) booked out out a few days in advance," Mr Owen said.

The train can carry 280 passengers - and there's even a dedicated souvenir shop carriage.

Track works on the Ballarat line meant that for the first time, the steam train could not make it to the Ballarat Heritage Festival.

But that failed to keep away scores of train fans like Noah Stewart.

The three-year-old loves Thomas the Tank Engine - and could not stop staring at the character's cousin on platform two at Ballarat station on Saturday.

"This has really been the highlight of his week," dad Aaron Stewart said.

"It's the first time anyone in our family has been on these steam trains. It was exciting to experience how it would've been years ago."

The train itself is a 1915 A2 class locomotive at one end, coupled to carriages from the early 1900s with a 1940 K-class locomotive at the other end.

"The A2 class of steam locomotive first entered service on the Victorian Railways in 1907, built to pull express passenger trains," the Steamrail Victoria website said.

"A2 986 was the fourth locomotive built in this second batch with the modified design.

"The locomotive remained in service until December 1963, when it was withdrawn."

It was selected for restoration by Steamrail Victoria in 1986, and in 2014 the first fire was lit in the firebox in 50 years. In 2017 the locomotive was officially re-launched, after three years of reassembly and tests.

The train will return to Southern Cross Station at 12.40pm on Monday.

If you can't make it to Ballarat over the King's Birthday long weekend, Steamrail Victoria will return to Ballarat on Saturday July 1, arriving from Southern Cross for a day trip at 12.20pm.

It will stop in town for around three hours.

Ballarat residents can get the train at the home-end, but will have to use a V/Line service to get home.

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.