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If you have a group occasion that CMR could assist in making memorable, please contact (02 6452 7791 or email
Group Bookings groups@cmrailway.org.au.
We have mentioned elsewhere that the CMR is ready and able to cater for charter operations such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, social groups, bus tours and the like. Our page heading has become almost a motto of the CMR over the last few years. We certainly have our fair share of all three, but it is probably the weddings which have been some of the most enjoyable and memorable occasions.
Following is a classic example of an event that (dare I say it) CMR does very well indeed. Member Matthew Betteridge married his fiancée Melanie, with the ceremony taking place on Cooma station platform and the reception held in the hall at Chakola. CMR followed its now usual practice of picking up the bridal party at Snowy Junction and delivering them to the guests at Cooma for the ceremony. In the first photo, the groom and guests await the arrival of the train.The train was of course decorated with ribbons, balloons etc for the occasion.
We pick up the action at Bunyan, where the bride and groom are transferring from one carriage to the next. (They did the transfer at Snowy Junction too, so they could be with all of their guests in the three carriages during the journey to Chakola).
The next photos were taken in the decorated cars as the couple talked to their guests.
Next we see the happy pair on arrival at Chakola.
As befits a wedding, there were a copious number of photos taken throughout, including at Chakola platform. Note the flowers tied to the post. They were still there a fortnight later, provoking questions from our passengers about their origin.
And so we proceeded to the reception (train crew included), where a great time was had by all.
In every way, it was a delightful day.
Thanks to Matthew and Melanie for the photos and the memories!
Our thanks also go to John Gibson who, ever present with camera, took some of these photos and who has provided many shots in the past for the web site and the Newsletter.
Another Happy Photoshoot
Following are the photos from the wedding of Lisa Goodman and Owen Hopkins, who had several shots taken on the station. The photographer is Julius Goboly of Tower Photographics in Canberra. You will see that an imaginative approach was taken to provide more than the usual interest in these images.
In this case the theme was 'going away on the train' and to this end the party hired the railmotor, station and a set of 'ports' from CMR President James Sullivan as props for the occasion. James commented that the ports are about the same age as the Railmotor, as his mum's father had them in The British Army of Occupation of the Rhine after WW1, and his mum was born before the railmotors were created in 1923. So the 'ports' are of an appropriate vintage!
The black and white photography also compliments the overall classic feeling of the scene.
CMR would like to thank Lisa, Owen and Tower Photographics for allowing us to be observers of an occasion that was carried out with obvious great good humour.
Here Comes the Bride....
One could be forgiven for thinking that our railmotors are brand new, judging from this photo. But no, the newly repainted motor car number 22 and trailer car 55 came out early on this Saturday to convey bridal party and guests to a wedding ceremony in our hall at Chakola. (Note the old original headlight on the trailer compared to the new style light on number 22).
Before long the train was assembled and decorated with the satin ribbons that have been a feature of previous wedding services. At the appointed time the guests and bridal party boarded the train. The bride and attendants were seated on the lounge at the rear of the trailer car for the journey.
At Chakola the guests alighted and waited for the bride to appear. In contrast to the previous weddings in which the CMR has been involved, the actual ceremony was conducted in the hall, with a reception to follow later in Cooma. Overnight the CMR converted the hall back from a row seating configuration to tables and chairs for a surprise teenage birthday party the next day. (Incidentally, that party completed a run of nine straight days of continuous CMR operations. Obviously the word is spreading of the good times to be had in conjunction with the railway.)
The CMR has had weddings performed on Cooma station before (and even on the train itself), but on one occasion the station was transformed into a wedding reception house.
At the start of the day, all four CMR units (including the under restoration CPH 8) lined up at the platform.
A temporary wall closed off one end of the platform, and together with the CPHs formed two walls of the 'reception room'.
Inside the 'room', various eating and drinking kiosks were constructed. Guests could either sit on the platform chairs, in the station waiting room or in the CPHs.
Just before the guests arrived, ribbon bedecked CPH22 left to pick up the bridal party from the small Snowy Junction station at the edge of town. The first thing the surprised guests knew of the arrival of the party was a series of joyous toots on 22's horn as it returned to the platform.
It wasn't until the next morning that 3 of the 4 cars returned to the shed, leaving 22 to run the normal day's operations.
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