The spectacle will be a world-first if organisers can gain the necessary permission in time for the 30th anniversary celebration.

“It’s a big task, but we’ve written the letters and we’re hopeful we can get permission,” Steamfest committee member Peter Garnham said.

“We’ve asked for four trains to have the quad run and we’ll need four Tiger Moths.”

Steamfest was started as a ­celebration of the Hunter’s coal haulage and passenger transport heritage.

But the quad run would bring the coal trains to a halt, albeit briefly, at the southern hemisphere’s biggest coal terminal.

“The Joint Coal Board would need to give us a window of two hours,” Cr Garnham said.

The quad run would use both the up track [Newcastle bound] and down-track [Muswellbrook], as well as both passenger lines associated with the NSW Train Link Hunter Line service.

The task would also require ARTC to clip all the points on those tracks so that the trains will run opposite to the usual direction.

The quad run would take The Great Race fixture, held on the Sunday, to a whole new level.

It’s something organisers have had on their wish list for years.

“It would be the first time in the world four steam trains have run side-by-side over that (30 kilometre) distance,” Cr Garnham said.

“It’s never been done over that distance.”

With both the 3801 and 3830 out of action, the quad run would ease the pain of their absence.

“I was hoping to have at least one of them for the 30th anniversary,” Cr Garnham said.