A Maitland to Port Waratah coal run will be a highlight and a first for the Burton Automotive Hunter Valley Steamfest.
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The run will in part make up for organisers not being able to get a third working steam locomotive for the event.
“The Port Waratah coal run is a very exciting trip and this will be the first time it has been held,’’ event manager Rachel MacLucas said.
“It will be a great opportunity for people to see the Port Waratah area and we think this very unusual trip will be popular.
“Steamfest organisers are disappointed that a third working steam locomotive cannot be secured for Hunter Valley Steamfest 2015.
“After significant efforts by rail provider Transport Heritage NSW, all options for a third steam locomotive to replace locomotive 3265 have been exhausted.
“All other steam locomotives in NSW and the ACT are now either unavailable to Steamfest or are not in operational condition.”
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The quest to find a third locomotive was launched after locomotive 3265 needed extensive repairs.
But two engines, locomotive 3237 and 3642, will still be in action at the big event.
Built in the UK, locomotive 3237 came into service in Australia in 1893.
Locomotive 3642 was of the class designed for long-distance, non-stop journeys, some of these engines serving until the late 1960s.
They will take passengers on excursions from Maitland to Branxton on the Saturday and also on the Port Waratah coal run.
Sunday will also see the Great Train Race, when the two engines race a Tiger Moth flying overhead.
Paterson Rail Motor Society members will also have their heritage diesels, known as tin hares, in action on both days.
This was the nickname given to the wooden-bodied rail cars introduced on the NSW Railways in the 1920s at the same time as many greyhound tracks were being converted to mechanical hares.
