FANS wanting to enjoy the Great Race slightly differently this year may find it on a train.
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Supercars has teamed up with Vintage Rail Journeys to bring a fully restored ex-Southern Aurora sleeper train to Bathurst for the race weekend.
Some guests will travel from Sydney on the train, while others will use it as accommodation in the ensuite twin rooms while the train stays at the Bathurst railway station for three days.
Simon Mitchell, who co-owns Vintage Rail Journeys alongside Danielle Smith, said the train will depart from Central station on the Friday, October 6, before returning mid-afternoon on Monday, October 9.
"We're really excited to partner with Supercars and have a train because we reckon it's the best way to get from Sydney up to Bathurst to see the Great Race," he said.
"Our guests are able to come from the train to into town. I know there'll be a lot of people in town already but to be able to bring people to the region and spend money in local businesses, that's really great."
People can spend three nights on the train, with catering by Scott Dowling from Black Apron Catering in Orange.
People will have a seafood lunch on the Friday journey from Sydney, with breakfast each morning, but people will have to source their own dinner.
"To be able to bring just under 100 guests for that long weekend is really going to help because we know most of the accommodation is already booked out," Ms Smith said.
The carriages that will be used for the Bathurst 1000 weekend are from the old Southern Aurora, the old overnight train that operated between Sydney and Melbourne.
Mr Mitchell and Ms Smith were able to purchase the carriages from the old Canberra Railway Museum and some private preservationists, but the condition of the carriages was poor to say the least.
"They were very heavily vandalised," Mr Mitchell explained.
"They had graffiti all over them. They had windows you couldn't see through, graffiti through the inside and fittings missing.
"You've got to do quite a major engineering project to bring them up to operation.
"There's also a fair bit of money spent on each carriage to bring it back into operation."
The carriages were in Bathurst on Thursday, as a part of the Golden West Rail Tour, which began in Sydney and took passengers through the Hunter Valley up to Werris Creek, before coming to Bathurst via Orange and Dubbo.
Passengers then headed out to Rylstone on Thursday via the heritage section of the Gwabegar railway line, before returning to Sydney.
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