This weekend was a very exciting weekend for the future of railway tourism in the Monaro with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cooma Monaro Railway and the Friends of Bombala Railway, establishing a join venture partnership to develop the Railway Pedal Cart experience in Bombala and facilitate the return of tourist trains to the region.

The MoU provides a framework for our groups to formally collaborate on the establishment of both the Pedal Cart experience and tourist trains through the sharing of knowledge, expertise and resources. It also establishes a mechanism for our groups to pursue opportunities as a collective, which will open up further opportunities to support our goals.

Our collective focus has always been to maximise the opportunities for our region, and this has also been formalised in the MoU with a commitment to support Snowy Monaro Regional Council to develop a rail trail within the rail corridor, alongside the existing railway line.

Allen Simpson, President of the Friends of Bombala Railway, is excited for the future of railway heritage in Bombala:

“In the last couple of months we have come a long way. The signing of this agreement is exciting for the people of Bombala because it will help to secure the future of our railway heritage and give us access to resources that will allow us to bring the Railway Pedal Cart experience to Bombala.”

Craig Moore, President of Cooma Monaro Railway, sees the collaboration as an important step for heritage railway operations in the Monaro region:

“This is a really exciting development for CMR and the future of heritage railway in the Monaro region. We all know how tough it can be for volunteer groups to make significant progress, so to be able to establish this partnership and work together on our projects will ensure that we can maximise our opportunities and provide the best possible benefit to the people of our region.”

While our groups have always worked closely together, the establishment of this partnership provides a strong platform for the future development of heritage railway experiences and strengthens our representation across the region.

We look forward to what we will be able to achieve. #StrongerTogether