Head of steam for rail chief

A passion for steam engines has lead to a lifetime of involvement in the Puffing Billy Railway for Graeme Breydon, the chairman of the Emerald Tourist Railway Board.
Mr Breydon has been involved with the Puffing Billy Railway since the age of 14 and, like most young children at that time, he had a passion for trains.
He said, as a child, he was given a train set which he enjoyed playing with for a short time before his passion for the lifesize models took over.
Mr Breydon said his love of trains also extended to trams because he grew up in St Kilda surrounded by them.
Joining the Puffing Billy family between 19621964, Mr Breydon was fulfilling a childhood dream to work with trains.
He said one of his most endearing childhood memories was travelling from the city on the electric train with a bunch of likeminded children before jumping on Puffing Billy and enjoy the ride up to Emerald Lake Park.
Mr Breydon said these trips soon became fortnightly excursions with the group, who are still involved with Puffing Billy.
During his time at Puffing Billy, Mr Breydon has worked on the train line, volunteering his time as a conductor.
Learning all aspects of the industry, he has also taken on the roles of booking clerk, ticket salesman, and station master.
Mr Breydon said Puffing Billy gets all sorts of interesting people volunteering from overseas.
He said some volunteers come from as far as South Korea, Germany and England.
“The railway only manages to keep going because of the volunteers and it is not just the people who work on the train, including the drivers and booking clerks, but the people who do all the behindthescene work (which) is just as important as front of house,” he said.
In the mid1980s, Mr Breydon was invited to be part of the organising committee of the Puffing Billy Great Train Race.
The race, which began in 1981, is now known as one of Australia’s unique and challenging fun runs.
Thousands of people attempt the race each year as competitors take to the track to battle it out with Puffing Billy in a 13.2kilometre run from Belgrave to Emerald.
Mr Breydon has continued his commitment to the Great Train Race for more than 20 years and has spent the past five years as chairman of the organising committee.
He has been a member of the Emerald Tourist Railway Board since 1989 and chairman since 1999.
The Emerald Tourist Railway Board is the body responsible for the operation of Puffing Billy for the preservation, promotion and maintenance of the railway.
Mr Breydon is also a member of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society.
He was last year awarded the prestigious Australasia Railway Association’s Rail Industry Individual Award for Excellence.
Mr Breydon received the award for his work as the conveyor of the safety committee of the Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia.
His primary role in the past 12 months has been to assist in the development of national legislation, regulation and codes of practice for safety.
Mr Breydon said he was proud to win the award, not only on his own behalf, but for all the heritage and tourist railways in Australia.
Continuing as the chairman of the Emerald Tourist Railway Board, Mr Breydon said he hoped to see continued growth and success of Puffing Billy.
In January, Mr Breydon was invited to present a paper at a conference in Japan.
The conference, Thinking About Recent Heritage Preservation and Utilisation of Railways, was organised and funded by Asia Pacific Culture Centre for UESCO.
Mr Breydon said he was invited along with five other people from different countries to take part in the conference.
He and each of the country representative presented a paper on heritage railways and went on a field trip to a steam locomotive museum in Kyoto.
Mr Breydon said the group also participated in a public symposium with more than 400 members of the public coming along to join in the discussions.
“The whole experience was most enjoyable and interesting,” he said.
Mr Breydon has also visited preserved railways in America and the United Kingdom.
He said these trips have confirmed his impressions that Puffing Billy is of world standard.
“I saw some magnificent preserved railways overseas, but I think we (Puffing Billy) are in the same league,” Mr Breydon said.
Mr Breydon said one of the many highlights in his time at Puffing Billy was the enjoyment and excitement of the reopening of the Gembrook Station on 18 October 1998.
“Riding on the train to the Gembrook township and seeing the enormous crowd joining in the celebrations was just amazing,” he said.