Widgeree

Widgeree is based on a small country town in the goldfields region of central Victoria. It is located on the Castlemaine to Maryborough line not far from Castlemaine.

The layout itself is set in the early 1980s, just around the time the Victorian railways (VicRail) changed into the state transport authority (V/line). As a result, you can see a mixture of paint schemes such as the classic blue and gold and the new tangerine and grey.

The township of Widgeree is located along the Thomas River and was once the scene of a major gold rush, a few old mines can be seen around town and it’s not uncommon to see people panning for gold along the river. Once a busy town, Widgeree has settled down to a slower lifestyle now, only the railway is busy with many trains each day. Some trains using this line are detoured off the main western line during peak times.

Many of the trains you will see running through Widgeree are made up of the older four wheel goods trucks and a mixture of interstate wagons heading back west to their home rails. Rolling stock is mostly Victorian and South Australian railways with a few New South Wales and Western Australian wagons mixed in.

Widgeree has been displayed at many exhibitions since 2011. It was last exhibited at the 2022 Rosehill Exhibition. It was decided, in 2023, that it should be retired from the exhibition circuit, and it has now been made a permanent layout in the clubrooms.