The Blues train has been running on the Bellarine rails since 1994. The original idea of The Blues Train was inspired by stories of blues musicians playing music on The Mississippifreight trains. The combination listening to music whilst travelling on a train was a success so it kept running. Each year over 10,000 people run the rails. The Blues Train was founded by Hugo T Armstrong and is run by the team at Bay City Events with the help of the volunteers at the Bellarine Railway who maintain and drive the heritage train. Over the last two decades, The Blues Train has welcomed over one hundred amazing music acts, including solo performers, duos and full bands. The Blues Train travels along 16 km of railway between the towns of Queenscliff and Drysdale, on the Bellarine Peninsula. The train begins and ends the journey in Queenscliff. There are three intervals during the events. The train stops for each interval, the first being Suma Park platform followed by Drysdale Station where the train then turns around to return to Queenscliff via another stop at Suma Park.
History
The Blues Train began operating in 1993 from the coastal town of Queenscliff. Initially running some one or two services a year, the Blues Train now operates around 40 shows per year. The show is primarily run on a Saturday evening from August to May as well as some Friday evenings in December.
Modus
The Blues Train experience begins at the historic town of Queenscliff home of the Queenscliff Music Festival). The four-carriage train, drawn by a steam locomotive, departs from Queenscliff railway station after customers have eaten, running around the southern shoreline of Swan Bay through saltmarsh before puffing up the hill to the Bellarine plateau and travelling through grazing country. At each of the three stops, Suma Park, Drysdale and Suma Park again, passengers swap carriages to hear another of the four blues acts performing on the train. Drinks are available from a mobile bar in a converted guard's van. At Drysdale the train reverses direction and returns to Queenscliff.
