A collective of industrious Gippsland knitters has banded together to 'yarn bomb' an historic train, in the hope of raising $230,000 to bring the vintage engine back to service.
It is estimated that it took two kilometres of knitting to cover the vintage locomotive in Walhalla in Victoria's east.
The fully-adorned locomotive, along with other yarn-bombing installations around the town and railway station, was unveiled on Saturday and will add a splash of colour to the historic goldmining town during the month of July.
Tourists are being asked to share their photos of the yarn-bomb online to help raise awareness and funds for the revival of the vintage engine.
Train key to town's tourism success
Walhalla, population 17, sits in a remote mountainous gorge in central Gippsland.
It was once a bustling hive of gold rush activity as thousands of miners and their families flocked to the isolated town in the hope of striking it rich.
But the gold diggers are long gone and tourism is now Walhalla's lifeline, so locals are hoping to boost visitor numbers by adding additional locomotives to Walhalla Goldfields Railway.
"We're eventually hoping to extend the railway track to [neighbouring town] Erica," train driver Graeme Skinner said.
"To do that we need more locomotives and more rolling stock.
"Currently our biggest loco that's in service can only pull four carriages."
Source: ABC Gippsland
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