Death of the Association of Tourist Railway's Treasurer

 Vale Graeme Stuart Breydon

22 August 1951 - 21 August 2006

The Association was  shocked to  learn of the death of it's Treasurer, Graeme Breydon on Monday, 21 August  2006. Graeme took ill whilst traveling on Puffing Billy that  day  and died  in Box Hill Hospital.

Graeme had many interests in life and enjoyed square dancing, amateur dramatics and was a great  railway enthusiast. Graeme was a chartered accountant in civil life and had worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers for many years before working in other activities including an aboriginal co-operative. Graeme  had a spell as  CEO of Puffing Billy among his working life's tasks

One  of Graeme's loves was square dancing and the writer  recalls him organising and taking part in demonstrations of Square Dancing in Swanston Street on floats in Moomba Parades. His interest in amateur dramatics came to  the fore when  special  festivals were held on Puffing Billy and he had the  opportunity  to ham it up.

 Graeme had a love  of trams and was an early member of the Tramway  Museum Society of Victoria, working at  times at Bylands in the early days.

But railways were his great love and he was a member of Puffing Billy since 1964 and undertook  many roles within  the railway  which  he joined at  the age  of 14. His  organising abilities were great and his contacts with  the business world  through  his main employer contributed to  the growth of Puffing Billy over the years and later  to  Heritage Rail in Victoria and Australia.

Graeme joined the wider Heritage scene when  the great  changes in Regulation were started after  the 3801 accident in NSW and later  the Waterfall Accident in NSW. His very acute mind allowed  him to negotiate with  the Authorities at both  Federal and State levels and present the views of Heritage Rail to  a world that  was not aware of our activities.

He was a tireless worker on National Heritage matters and at  the time of his untimely death was  contributing through  ATHRA (Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia) to many matters as well  as working  as a consultant with  the ARA. He was well known at  both  State and national  levels  in  the Governmental  and Commercial areas.

Graeme as a person  was  extremely well known  and liked. He was  very  loyal to  all his colleagues and  leaves  behind many close friends and will be greatly missed by  his family and friends of many years.

PASSING OF PUFFING BILLY CHAIRMAN

 A Tribute from the CEO, Emerald Tourist  Railway  Board.

August 22, 2006

VALE: GRAEME S BREYDON 22.08.51 – 21.08.06

Graeme Breydon, the Chairman of the Emerald Tourist Railway Board and Treasurer of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, sadly and suddenly passed away on Monday 21^st August, one day short of his 55^th birthday.

A passion for steam engines lead to a lifetime of involvement in the Puffing Billy Railway for Graeme Breydon, commencing at the age of 14. Like most young children at that time, he had a passion for trains and as a child, he was given a train set which he enjoyed playing with for a short time before his passion for the life-size models took over. Graeme’s love of trains also extended to trams because he grew up in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda surrounded by them.

Joining the Puffing Billy family in 1964 at the age of 14, Graeme was fulfilling a childhood dream to work with trains. One of Graeme’s most endearing childhood memories was traveling from the city on the electric train with a bunch of likeminded children before jumping on Puffing Billy to enjoy the ride up to Emerald Lake Park. These trips soon became fortnightly excursions with the group, who are still involved with Puffing Billy.

During his time at Puffing Billy, Graeme worked in many volunteer roles, including conductor, booking clerk, ticket salesman, and station master.

In the mid 1980’s Graeme was invited to be part of the organising committee of the Puffing Billy Great Train Race. Mr. Breydon has continued his commitment to the Great Train Race for more than 20 years and has spent the past eight and a half years as chairman of the organising committee.

Graeme was elected to the committee of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society in 1988 and became Treasurer in 1989. At the same time he was nominated as a member of the Emerald Tourist Railway Board. In 1999 he became Chairman of the Board, and held the position at the time of his death.

He was last year awarded the prestigious Australasian Railway Association’s Rail Industry Individual Award for Excellence. Graeme received the award for his work as the convenor of the safety committee of the Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia. His primary role in the past 18 months has been to assist in the development of national legislation, regulation and codes of practice for safety.

In January 2006, Graeme was invited along with five other people from different countries, to present a paper at a conference in Japan, “Thinking about Recent Heritage – Preservation and Utilisation of Railways”, was organised and funded by Asia Pacific Culture Centre for UESCO.

The main highlight of his time at Puffing Billy was the enjoyment and excitement of the reopening of the railway from Lakeside to Gembrook on 18^th October, 1998, a dream he and his colleagues had kept alive from the time the original railway closed in 1953. Graeme also took part in the celebration mounted in 2000 to celebrate the centenary of the opening of the original railway and the celebrations in 2005 to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society.

Outside of the his involvement with the Railway, Graeme was a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse Coopers for 29 years and more recently was a Business Management consultant.

Graeme’s business acumen came from an extremely sharp mind and his insight into governance issues on the Railway will be sorely missed. The Board, the Executive Committee and his friends and colleagues at the Railway are deeply saddened and shocked at his sudden death and extend their condolences to his family at this time.