Railway training program aiming to get kids on track in the trades

The Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society (DVRPS), Southcentral Workforce Network and TasTAFE have come together to develop the Derwent Valley Railway Skills Pathway Program.

The program aims to provide students from New Norfolk and Glenora High Schools with trade skills training in a real engineering workshop environment.

Local students have the opportunity to work alongside experienced volunteer mentors in a six-week course at the site's newly completed workshop.

The students will also attend the South Central Trade Training Centre at Bridgewater.

Volunteers had been working long days and nights to get the new workshop ready for the first group of trainees.

The pathway program also helps the DVRPS achieve its longer-term goal of getting its trains operational.

The society is seeking volunteers as its workload continues to grow.

Volunteers are on-site on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm, holding rail yard tours every Saturday at 1pm.

The DVRPS also recently celebrated its 35th birthday, marking the date it officially became an incorporated society on September 6, 1990.