Locals Resurrect An Abandoned Railway Line In Tasmania 

great job Issac. Love your vids mate.

Very articulate young man with high production values. Well-done, excellent documentary.

What an incredible achievement by yet another group of volunteers. What would have happened to our history if there wasn't volunteer groups like this one. Working hard to keep memories alive.Also wonderful was the young guy who produced this clip and interviewed the people on the site. A guy with a big future. Thank you all.

Just joined as a volunteer at Don a few weeks ago. Lovely place, lovely people and nothing but respect for the Goss family and the volunteers. Amazing how a line that barely existed for a time is now a staple of the states railway heritage

This is such a wonderful thing the volunteers have done. Tasmania would and could benefit from a train service , enable the older people to enjoy a trip around the state without driving

Isaac the quality of your work is stunning. Congratulations and long live the Don River Railway.

Respect you have young man. God bless thank you

Well done! I am very pleased to see that the Don River Railway have rebuilt after the fire last year. I wish them best of luck in joining back to the main line. We will travel back to Tasmania when they run on the main. Hi from NZ, Anthony

im a ex steamrail victoria vollenteer its amazing to see people enjoy old steam and disiel and old carriages i find it therapudic to hear the sounds the smells of a heritage loco and the amount of people that come out and witness mstil exisiting trains of today and the exicitment of the public taking photos videos and sound recordings if tasrail could merge with the railways in victoria or australia wide could help them with repairs retoration projects and work togeater as a team also help run it back to the mainline

Great work. Isaac. I’m in Victoria, and my father was a founding member of the VGR, and my nephew will probably do his driver’s test this year. He’s been a full hands on volunteer for a decade. He also has his dream job at Puffing Billy Railway! Volunteers are the cornerstone of historic railways. They’ll rarely ever make profit, but they put smiles on faces and memories in hearts and minds! 🚂💨😃

Great video and fantastic work from the Don River Railway volunteers.

Awesome video young man, very professional...hoping to get to Tassie some time (for the first time) but I am not well. Best regards to you & Don River.

Great journalism Isaac. Well done.

Thanks to these magnificent men for their passion and hard work. There is something beautiful about seeing, hearing and smelling a steam train go past. In Victoria whenever a loco passes everyone stops and watches it. Puffing Billy is one of our main tourist attractions and has been for at least 60 years.

Wow, that was quite a treat, my father was a member when I was a boy in Tasmania and we would spend weekends fixing track and then got to ride the short line from the workshops to the swimming pool. There was not a lot of rolling stock back then but some was actually still in use on the main line. We rode the line from North to South when it was in operation, a very long, slow journey but I still recall the tunnel in the middle of Tasmania that was 3 miles long (?). There were so many rail lines in Tasmania that were abandoned for road transport but it is a shame to just tear them up. I wish the volunteers of the Don River Railway all the best for the future and I will be sure to visit next time I am there. Great production, keep up the good work.

Superb. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

Loved the video bro. 13:40 Looks like old mate left his fridge door ajar

Great stuff. Getting young people involved is a good idea when you can. Even if they can't do the grown upside work, they can watch and learn and clean or paint. I learned a lot from older people that couldn't do it for long but long enough to show me how.

Absolute World class presentation there. You could present this to Political Parties in Canberra. Fantastic video. Fabbulous work done by all. Very, very proud of you.

great video, love every second of it

Brilliant story Isaac, I live near Downs Steam and its run by volunteers who are as equally as driven like the team at Don River. Great people one and all. Cheers

Nice work. This piece is TV ready. Well done

Great work, young man! This is a brilliant production. Are you wanting to become a journalist for the news every night? Your voice is fantastic! Not many have the luxury of having a photogenic voice. I only wished I had a voice like that. I thought I was watching a Natgeo or Discovery documentary lol, the quality of your work and filming as well as the commentary is by far the best I’ve seen to date. I’ve subscribed to your channel btw. Good luck with your continued success in this field, you’ve got a bright future ahead. I also film trains here in SA for our preserved railways and have even been featured on television a few times here in SA and overseas as well. Several of my photos have also made their way into train brochures for both the Pichi Richi Railway and SteamRanger too as well as Railway Adventures with Scott McGregor himself. Looking forward to your next production with keen interest. Keep well Issac. Regards, Caleb from South Australia

What a great video. Thankyou

New Zealander here. This was a very moving video - I'm tearing-up right now. What a fantastic, wonderful group of volunteers! Very hard-working and hugely inspirational! I really hope that they can get a good number of young people interested and helping out so that the history stays alive. Very best wishes to the Don River Railway!

Awesome job Isaac. You've come so far with your filming!

Isaac, thanks for your passion for the age of steam. Great to see that rail will be maintained.

Proper job Isaac! Outstanding video, wonderful committed volunteers, salt of the earth.

Wow what a well produced and presented doco, such a fresh approach well done to all.

Wow man Wow! This is actually so amazing! You are so gifted ♡◇♡

Thank You.

Wow they’ve recovered from the fire well! Hope Don river keep up the work, one of my favourite places in the state!

Absolutely brilliant, loved every minute. Well done!

I recall watching from the other side of the river one day and all we could see was the puffs of steam above the trees as the train made its way up the Done River. mesmerising.

One beautiful documentary about a wonderful cause. 10/10 will visit this rail society when I get a chance. Thank you for a good video.

Doctor David Hutchins MD was the founding member with Ian Hall. ',Hutch' as they called him, had alot of influence around Launceston, educated and political pull plus charisma. Delivered alot of babies, smoked like a chimney. Yes a heritage train with a hospitality and recreational hub between Lebrina and Denison Gorge possible and profitable if researched and presented professionally..(What enthusiast wouldn't want the challenge of driving and firing up 1in 40 grades and 10 chain radius horse shoe curves through the bush? Ray Howe was a brilliant DLI pressure welder that kept the steam locomotives running. A lend - lease cooperative combining people, trains from TTMS, Don and Derwent Valley back with advice from the Puffing Billy Railway and project research to present to government a sound business plan with the help of Visit Northern Tasmania. Remember your road exploring tourist only has maximum 2 hour flexibility in their predetermined tour and budget agenda.

What an incredible Documentary and please enter it in a few comps. Start by sending it to SBS or the ABC and list it on the IMDB. You also need to put yourself on the IMDB as a Producer and Director. You will go far young man if you work hard and be true to yourself.

History brought back to life

Wow so young. I appreciate your time and care young man. Hats off. God bless 👍 Lelt we no forget. God bless 👍

Excellent Thank you

Isaac - you have produced a very professional video covering a good story using some great characters. I will now have a look at what else you have done. Thanks

Excellent documentary. Wonderful work guys!!!!! Love steam.

Great video very great presentation of the Don River railway. It's ashame that Tas rail is showing it's short sightedness into how much potential there is for regular passenger service.

Excellent programme. Best of luck to all at the Don 👍👍

Excellent presentation, you done a fantastic job on the video thanks

A great video, and well done by the young interviewer Isaac Dove. What would help new viewers like me is some historical data, as I know nothing about the railway. ! Also, some data what the trains carried, the gauge, types of rolling stock and engines , and routes of the railway with a map. A documented history. Best of luck on your future plans. Rodney Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada

Hi Issac, your work is brilliant. There's so much rail history in Tasmania. Have you been to Zeehan yet? There's a museum there that has quite a bit of rail history to see. Then there's Queenstown some 35 to 40 minutes drive away. They have rail history there too with the scenic rail. Well worth the trip. A big thank you for shining a light on something that should not be lost: Tasmanian railway history.

Great video. I was a volunteer for a while on the Derwent Valley Railway at the other end of the state and I know how hard the members there have worked over the years at a time when they haven't been able to run trains. With luck that era should be ending soon - I remember the enjoyment passengers got from what was often the first train trip in their life. I live in regional NSW now so no chance of joining a railway here. Best of luck to the Don River.

The Flying Scotsman and Mallard tearing around Tasmania !!!! when did THAT ever happen ?

what people forget is skills like this are taught by learning from tradespeople who are willing to pass on knowledge to the next generation. When these skills are lost then the knowledge evaporates and the 'know how' to problem solve and make solutions go with it.

I have two memories of going on the train in Tasmania, one was from Hobart to Launceston, the other was going to Clairmont from Hobart, as I recall on the suburban stations the had a small box, if you wanted the train to stop you opened the box took out the flag then the train would stop, then you rolled the flag up again but it back in the box and went on your way

what the hell are these commercial grade production values how on earth? congrats dude

What a story! Praying for you volunteers for the dreams to make it to reality. Great bit of journalism too. Good job young man. You can achieve your dreams. BRAVO and SALUTES to all the people involved in the Don River Railway. ✌️🫡

Well made doco Isaac, all the best

Congratulations on a simply stunning video!

Thank you

High light of my apprenticeship was being sent with “steam train Ralf” to the round house in winter and while he talked I could get warm by a boiler.1972.

Well-Done on a marvellous doco!! Hope you excel and achieve wonders in the world. All the best. Cheers. (Annnnd I am not a train fan, your channel popped up for some reason).

Great story and great production from a young bloke. We have the same problem in WA. Government dont give a crap about the rail history. East coast does it so much better

A fantastic and well presented video and well researched. keep up the great work.

Woah how did I not know about this?! I live close by to Don river railway and volunteer from time to time when I can, great place with lots of knowledgeable people running it, not too long ago my brother and I helped to salvage what was left of the usable parts (the variable resistors and some other valuable parts) in the old diesel locomotive shown at 0:04, was super interesting getting to know more of the inner workings of these old beasts, I look forward to the future of Don river railway and this documentary only furthers to make more people aware of this amazing part of Tasmanian rail history and the people that make it all happen, excellent work!

Amazing video, with an amazing backing track. :)

this should be done all over the uk, cos there is abandoned railway route,s all over the place, some place,s would maybe need a slight re-route.. Cos of people building over trackbeds, but really ,every old disused trackbed should be protected against people building on it, cos you never know when they need to be re-opened, part of the border,s railway (originaly, the waverly line) has been re-opened, but to make it more usefull to everyone, it needs re-opened down to carlisle. Which will be tricky but not impossible, due to parts of the orginal trackbed being used to build on, any new building over an orginal trackbed should have a compulsory purchase order put on it & be demolished, the railways should never have been closed in the first place. Its my preferd form of travel, & if there isen,t a railway that goes to a place, then i just don,t go.

Awesome stuff mate, reminds me of school holiday trips on the Tasman Limited

Wow, very well put together documentary, well done.

Great video!!!

what a fantastic speaking voice you have young man

Great video, very interesting

Must have been very hot paint !

Excellent documentary! :)

After decades in rail one of the sadest things you start to understand is that no place on earth has a passenger railway ever made a profit and in this day and age that seems to be the primary driver for most things. Moving meat is horrendously expensive and without government support from taxes in the form of subsidies few services can survive for long. Preserved railways have a place in this picking up the discarded pieces but can never replace a full-time service and getting connected to the mainline only means the start of a very expensive journey.

Been there & on the old steam train, a great bunch of guys.. & i wish them all the best... cheers ya young @ heart lads 👍