The Blues train |
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| Location(s) | Queenscliff |
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| Years active | 1993 - present |
| Founded by | Hugo T Armstrong |
| Date(s) | August - May |
| Genre | Blues |
| Website | Official website |
The Blues Train travels along 16 km of railway operated by the Bellarine Peninsula Railway, a steam-driven tourist railway located in Victoria, Australia, between the towns of Queenscliff and Drysdale, on the Bellarine Peninsula. It provides an evening entertainment experience of a variety of bands playing live music on a moving train.
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The Blues Train began operating in 1993 from the coastal town of Queenscliff. Initially running some one or two services a year, the Blues Train now operates over 35 shows per year, on Saturday evenings from August to May, catering for about 8,000 customers during the season.
The Blues Train experience begins at the historic town of Queenscliff home of the Queenscliff Music Festival). The four-carriage train, drawn by a steam locomotive, departs from Queenscliff railway station after customers have eaten, running around the southern shoreline of Swan Bay through saltmarsh before puffing up the hill to the Bellarine plateau and travelling through grazing country. At each of the three stops, Suma Park, Drysdale and Suma Park again, passengers swap carriages to hear another of the four blues acts performing on the train. Drinks are available from a mobile bar in a converted guard's van. At Drysdale the train turns round and returns to Queenscliff.
The Blues Train has hosted a range of blues acts including Jimi Hocking, Jaimi Faulkner, ARIA Award winner Collard Greens and Gravy, Ash Grunwald, ARIA nominees Kerri Simpson and Mia Dyson, C. W. Stoneking, Spectrum, Chubby Rae and the Elevators, Dave Steel, Chris Wilson and Dallas Frasca and her Gentlemen.
Number 6 in the RACV's 101 top tourist attractions