Mary Valley Rattler, Classic Rattler Run

Little train lovers, this is SUCH a special one. We’d wanted to do the Mary Valley Rattler for so long because my little guy has always been obsessed with trains, so we took both our families along with four little ones in tow and made a whole morning of it.

📍 Historic Gympie Station, Tozer St, Gympie
🗓️ Wed + Sat + Sun | 9am departure | approx. 3 hours return
💲 Various ticket + experience options available | check current prices when booking

👍🏻 Toilets – stations + limited onboard
👍🏻 Parking – station + street parking
👍🏻 Booking Required
👍🏻 Enclosed
👍🏻 Indoor
👍🏻 Outdoor
👍🏻 Bites – Rusty Rails Café + BYO food permitted onboard
👍🏻 Sips – Rusty Rails Café
👍🏻 Dog Friendly – selected pet friendly services
❌ Pram Friendly

We did the Sunday run with four little ones, and it was such a memorable outing for the whole family. We arrived early so we had time to explore Historic Gympie Station before boarding, including checking out the heritage display and grabbing something from the café.

The train journey takes you from Gympie through the Mary Valley to Amamoor, where you can hop off, explore the station and watch the locomotive being turned on the historic turntable before heading back to Gympie.

Sunday is a little different because the All Stations Train also stops at Dagun, giving you another heritage station to explore along the journey.

The kids loved looking out the windows along the way, and we brought our Window Scavenger Hunt along to give them something extra to look for during the journey.

Rusty Rails Café at Historic Gympie Station is currently open Wednesday to Sunday from 7:30am, so you can grab breakfast, cabinet food or a barista coffee before boarding. You’re also welcome to bring your own food onboard, and we’d definitely recommend bringing plenty of water during the warmer months.

One thing to know with little ones is that the heritage carriages require passengers to climb steps and negotiate the gap between the platform and carriage, so I wouldn’t consider this one pram friendly. If you need wheelchair access, accessible rail experiences are available but spaces are limited and need to be booked directly with the station.

Dogs and cats can also travel in the dedicated pet friendly carriage on selected services, but spaces are limited and need to be booked in advance.

We visited November 2025. While we do our best to keep our listings up to date, information can change. We recommend checking Mary Valley Rattler’s website or social media for current departure days, fares and availability before visiting.