The area was prosperous, as Castlemaine and Maldon had both experienced gold rushes in the preceding years, and local residents had been petitioning the government for a railway since 1874.

On 2 August 1884, a contract was let for an extension to Laanecoorie, however further construction was suspended after the line reached the small town of Shelbourne in 1891.

[3] However, these were cut back at the end of the 1920s due to a decrease in the local population, and passenger services were eliminated altogether during World War II.

When bushfire damage caused the closure of the Shelbourne extension in 1970, the remainder of the line was rendered largely useless, and it was officially closed on the 3rd of December, 1976.

Over the next decade, volunteers obtained and renovated rolling stock and by 1986, trains were able to operate on a one kilometre section of track out of Maldon.

[5] By 1996, the line from Muckleford to Maldon had been restored, with the platforms being reinstated and a small replacement building being constructed.

[5] Services were able to operate along a regular timetable, and the society set about reopening the Muckleford-Castlemaine section of the line.

The necessary physical work had largely been completed by 2003, but it took another year to secure the necessary approvals and sign an agreement with freight operator Pacific National over the use of its line into Castlemaine station, which is still in regular passenger use today.

[10] As of April 2006[update], the Society has shown no plans to restore the dismantled Shelbourne extension in the foreseeable future.

[13] [17][18] 29 March 1986: First section of railway reopened between Maldon station and the Bendigo Road crossing (approx.

It had been held by a group of railmotor drivers at Spencer St prior to being railed to Bendigo and then trucked to Maldon.

14 June 2009: The VGR celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Castlemaine-Maldon line with a special train from Castlemaine hauled by doubled headed J class.

[21] 29 October 2011: Steamrail Victoria locomotive K190 transferred by rail from Melbourne to Maldon to provide back-up motive power.

K190-K160 ran a special mixed train from Maldon to Muckleford with K190 leading tender-first and K160 trailing funnel-first.

12 May 2013: Diesel Electric Rail Motor Preservation Association Victoria ran a special from Melbourne to Maldon and return with 58RM.

23 June 2013: D3 639 arrived at Maldon by rail from Melbourne on loan from Steamrail Victoria, making it the first time a D3 has traveled on the branch in forty years.

A series of workings using both K-class locos operated in either double-headed, tender-to-tender and tender-first combinations on passenger or mixed trains for the remainder of the day.

With 6 sleeping carriages, a power van, water gin, Lowanna, the VGR 4 wheel goods set and Y133 hauled dead.

On the night of 20 October 2009, a large fire in the Maldon station building caused major damage and loss of equipment.

[23] However, the brickwork structure was deemed safe and work on a contract initiated by VicTrack to completely rebuild the roof was started in February 2011, leading to VGR re-occupying the building the following June.