Train leaving now: 35 Riches Rd, Sarsfield, is for sale at $590,000 – $630,000.
A Victorian family who lived in an old railway carriage for three years after bushfires claimed their home near Bairnsdale are on their way to sell the quaint home.
And they’re not the only ones challenging traditional housing perceptions, with converted cabooses also proving to be popular properties on short-stay accommodation websites across Victoria, amid calls for trains as a potential solution to the housing crisis.
Cynthia and Mike McStephen planned to convert an old Hitachi-class motor vehicle they had installed on their bush block in Sarsfield into an Airbnb, but just as most of the work was completed, the Black Summer 2019 bushfires rolled through the 9,484-square-metre block that housed their home and sheds.
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“The train was the only thing that survived,” Ms McStephen said.
“And we’re so grateful that that happened. There it was, with the kitchen and bathroom already in there that we had put in before.”
They and their Labrador cross Monty lived happily in the carriage for the next three years – so long that friends began threatening to buy Mike a conductor’s cap.
The pair accidentally stumbled upon the carriage in nearby Johnsonville.
![Cynthia and Mike McStephen - couple from Sarsfield who lived on a train for three years - for Herald Sun](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Cynthia and Mike McStephen on the train deck of their Sarsfield estate.
Because a deck is wrapped around much of the train, this may be one of the few instances where a station stopped for a train.
“We weren’t looking to renovate a train car… it was just something I saw and thought we could really make something out of this,” Ms McStephen said.
“And the sound the door makes is still the same as it was back then, so the first time my husband saw it, he was immediately transported back to high school and had that ‘did I remember my homework’ feeling.”
The goal of the renovation was to be able to sit on one side and see all the way to the other side.
“It’s basically a self-contained studio with one bedroom and loads of space,” Ms McStephen said.
She even went so far as to want an expensive downdraft extractor fan in the impressive kitchen instead of an extractor hood, so that nothing would obstruct the sight lines along the train.
“It’s the biggest and best kitchen I’ve ever cooked in,” Ms McStephen said.
The train’s long bank of windows has been balanced by the addition of solid fuel heating and split-system air conditioning.
And other features, like the metal rails that passengers once clung to when there weren’t enough seats, helped form the basis of a walk-in closet next to the sleeping area.
Their electrician installed LED lighting in the train’s original fixtures and rewired some of the original electronics, such as the running lights at the front of it.
The kitchen is still the best Mrs. McStephen has ever cooked in.
Split-system air conditioning and solid fuel heating make this perhaps the coziest or coolest train car of its kind.
Other trades had to deal with curved walls, which meant that every piece of joinery was heavily bespoke.
And in what may be the only instance where a train would arrive at a station, the pair also added a deck along one side.
“With some difficulty I was able to convince my husband that we were not painting a yellow line on the deck,” Mrs. McStephen said.
They even had a set of C and H keys made so they could access the compartments in the driver’s compartment.
The Reno needed its own building permits, as well as road permits to move the 75-foot-long, 8-foot-wide carriage, which weighs about 28 tons.
Volunteers from the Newport Railway Museum managed to track down the carriage number, 216M, and learned that the carriage started rolling in 1981.
The train’s engineer’s compartment remains largely as it was when it rolled along the rails.
This is a train car that you can definitely sit with your feet on.
A journey along the Pakenham, Sandringham, Upfield, Broadmeadows, St Albans, Williamstown or Werribee line would probably have been the last journey.
The decision to live in the train carriage after the fires meant they were also in a position to see life return to their properties, first the green shoots and splashes of color like native vegetation and even orchids growing through the ash.
Then came the return of wildlife, from echidnas to kookaburras, which they often watched while drinking a glass of wine on the deck at sunset.
“There will be some problems when we sell it. The carriage itself was a fascinating project and I’m proud of how it turned out,” Ms McStephen said.
“This carriage will never leave this building. It has reached the end of the line, you wouldn’t be able to get it out now without a lot of effort.”
O’Brien Bairnsdale’s Mark Ashley is handling the sale of the property 35 Riches Rd, Sarsfield, with an asking price of $590,000 – $630,000.
In the driver’s seat of the house. A rare recording for homes.
The almost 1 hectare estate has enough space to rebuild a house if desired, although this would require council approval.
“I’ve seen other properties with railcars dumped in paddocks because they didn’t know what to do with them, but I’ve never seen one so equipped before,” Mr Ashley said.
The agent added that he suspected a Melbourne train fanatic would buy it as a weekend car, but noted that, subject to council approval, it was possible a new house could be built in place of the old one.
With Melbourne’s aging Comeng train fleet currently being replaced by new X’Trapolis 2.0 trains, Ms McStephen said she believed it would be worthwhile to make them available as an alternative housing option.
“Put them on people’s properties and let people live in them if they can, I think it’s a no-brainer,” she said.
“I really think we need to think outside the square when it comes to the housing crisis.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Planning said this week that people interested in relocating rolling stock can submit an expression of interest.
The government is open to selling more trains to the public, raising the possibility that more accommodation can be provided.
“Expressions of interest have previously been received for the relocation of decommissioned rolling stock, with a small number of trains and trams successfully rehoused,” they said.
In Daylesford, Samantha Perry bought a 1970s railway carriage, a compact piece of land as a weekend getaway for herself, which she could rent for short stays.
Having spent the past seven years modernizing the unusual home and gardens, this pet-friendly getaway is fully booked most weekends.
Basically a one bedroom unit with a kitchenette extension to the side and a sofa bed in the living room. This “quite quirky” and affordable rental property is popular with couples and backpackers.
“I wasn’t looking for a train, but it happened to come along and it fit my budget,” Ms Perry said.
However, she noted that only a handful of insurers were willing to support this.
Inside Mrs Perry’s converted rental house.
Inside a 1917 railway carriage that has been converted into a bed and breakfast space on a Pakenham estate.
Pravin Kandeep, director of Havenn Tiny Homes, said while his company specialized in homes classified as caravans, there were signs that Victorian councils were becoming more open to modest additional homes being added to properties.
In the Mount Alexander Shire near Bendigo, caravan-class small houses can now be permanently installed on properties with an existing home. The Surf Coast Shire Council is also currently testing a similar approach.
Mr Kandeep said most people inquiring about tiny homes were either downsizers looking to make money on their rural home, or people looking for an Airbnb or home extension.
He also encounters people who want to add one to a piece of land as a way to subsidize land tax on properties.
An emerald green house where an old ‘red ratchet’ train car was added to the property.
Inside the converted carriage where you can spend the night comfortably. Photo Rebecca Michael.
RMIT Professor of Sustainability and Urban Design Andrew Butt said regional areas were the most likely destination for ex-trains to become homes as it would be difficult to transport them through suburban streets.
However, Professor Butt said if there is proper planning to ensure wastewater management and resilience to natural disasters are taken into account, it could provide a new way to recycle old carriages.
“This will increase housing supply, but you have to remember that the planning system is there for a reason, and not just to irritate people,” Prof Butt said.
“And they do require some work because they are not designed to be lived in.”
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