Second-generation Picnic Train volunteer Gemalla Stapleton and partner Lukas White met through their mutual love of steam and rail and will be part of the 20-strong team to bring nostalgic train rides to Goulburn, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Cootamundra and Canberra. Photos: Supplied.
Everyone loves a steam train, possibly no one more than The Picnic Train’s Stapleton family, of whom you are bound to meet at least one when the “living museum on rails” chugs through the regions in March and April.
Gemalla Stapleton, 21, along with her parents Paul and Simone and younger brothers Beyer, 18, Locksley, 16, and Tascott, 15, are just some of the 12 to 20 volunteers it takes to operate the R766, one of the rare survivors of the golden era of travel when steam ruled the rails.
The Picnic Train travelled from Lidcombe to Goulburn on 23 February and will continue on to conduct three days of touring in Canberra on 8, 9 and 10 March, two days in Albury on 29 and 30 March, and one day each in Wagga on 5 April and Cootamundra on 6 April (ticket details below).
And if there’s something ringing in your ears about the names given to Gemalla and her brothers, yes, they are all named in relation to something to do with trains.
“Yes, Mum loves trains the most,” said Gemalla, “but Dad’s not far behind her. All of our names relate to a train town, station or manufacturer.”
Paul, Simone and Gemalla are all train drivers by trade, with their mum transporting coal in the Hunter Valley and father and daughter driving container trains in NSW.
Paul was one of the original founders of what became The Picnic Train (formerly the 30T Preservation Society) when he was part of a cooperative of young men who bought a dormant locomotive in the 1970s.
“With my family history, it’s no wonder I became a driver,” Gemalla said. “I’ve always been around trains but it wasn’t until I was about 17 that I had my, for lack of a better term, ‘come to Jesus’ moment and fell in love with them for myself.”
The beating heart of the stream train’s operation is the team of volunteers that keep it moving, says Gemalla Stapleton, who, with her parents and three younger brothers, is gearing up for a range of tours through the region.
In her volunteer role with Picnic, Gemalla is a trainee steam fireman, attending to coal, oil and water levels and part of a team that ensures all the moving parts are clean, lubricated and in working condition.
“As a fireman, your day starts early, as soon as there is fire in the engine, and that’s usually three days before departure,” she said.
”We like to give it enough time to build pressure and make sure everything is OK.
“The issue of working with things that have been around so long is that when things break, you can’t just order them online, you have to build them from scratch.”
Gemalla says it’s the combination of nostalgia and awe that draws visitors to the steam train rides.
“It’s the sound, the smells and the look. So many people haven’t known steam in operation, only on video or movies, but they still have that little part of them that knows it’s a marvel.
”Then we have the older generations, who want to bring their kids and grandkids along and say this is something that I knew growing up.”
The people form the beating heart of the old locomotives, she says, both on the tracks and off.
“All of this relies on volunteer heart and effort, with my family and others. Mine is not the only one involved where it is generational.
“My brothers are all carriage attendants. We all start at the ground level and work our way up.
“It’s so important that we have volunteers. Without them, the show doesn’t go on, not just on the day but behind the scenes. There have been years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that have gone into making it right.
“If you come to The Picnic Train, whether it’s on the train as a passenger or behind the scenes as a volunteer, you become part of the community that has gone ahead to keep it running and help it remain a tourism icon.”
It appears that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to the wheels of love in motion either.
“Mum and Dad met through trains and I met my partner, Lukas, through trains as well.
“I fell in love with trains first, then I met the boy,” she chuckles.
Lukas is Picnic’s operations manager and the couple have just celebrated their fourth anniversary. Toot, toot!
The steam train rides normally book out quickly, so the advice is to reserve your ticket well ahead of time. On most rides there are single tickets (from $45-$85), or you can book a private compartment that seats eight and ranges from $240-$440 depending on the ride duration.
There are first-class high tea options on the Canberra and Cootamundra runs and some evening events from Canberra to Bungendore on the 8-9 March weekend.
For tickets and more information on the steam train rides, visit The Picnic Train.
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