The Southern Aurora was a first-class passenger service with sleeper accommodation and lounge and dining cars that ran between Sydney and Melbourne, via Wagga, from April 1962 to August 1986.

Wagga resident Brooke McCormack was invited to join the Southern Aurora's anniversary tour Wagga to Albury leg on Sunday in honour of her grandfather, Les Schultz.

Mr Schultz, a former mayor of Junee, was a train driver for the Southern Aurora and also featured in an ABC documentary about railways in Australia that Ms McCormack was required to watch at school.

"He started driving trains in 1953, starting on steam trains before moving to diesel but I'm not sure how long he drove the Southern Aurora for," Ms McCormack said.

"My aunty said she had a memory of catching the Southern Aurora from Junee to Melbourne when Pop was driving it in the 1970s."

Ms McCormack never got the chance to ride on the original Southern Aurora service as it closed when she was a baby.

Declining passenger numbers resulted in the Southern Aurora being merged with other services.

However, Ms McCormack was able to get a taste of the luxury overnight travel of yesteryear on Sunday.

"I'd never been on a train until I caught the Southern Aurora on the weekend and then caught the XPT back to Wagga, and it was quite something to compare the two," she said.

"It was a very interesting comparison between the furnishings and fittings.

"They stopped for us at Wagga and when we got on they greeted us with champagne and we got to sit in the dining car and have a plated breakfast, which was lovely."

Ms McCormack's cousin Kevin Schultz, also got to drive the Southern Aurora between Wagga and Albury on Sunday.

"It was really quite something to share that with him as well," Ms McCormack said.

"I'm really grateful to the organisers for giving us that opportunity."

The train stopped at Albury on its journey from Sydney to Melbourne as part of a tour conducted by private firm St James Rail.

Albury mayor Kylie King and Member for Farrer Sussan Ley were on hand to greet the train, along with a crowd of curious onlookers.

Ms Ley reflected on her predecessor Tim Fischer's enthusiasm for the first service to not change in Albury for the break of gauge but also his desire for a very fast train.

"As we all come out of COVID and many people who live on the eastern coast realise the benefits and the beauty of inland and regional Australia, a very fast train is something that would make an enormous difference and actually connect people with the coast like never before," Ms Ley told a gathering on the platform.

The 15 carriages are in public and private ownership and were joined to three former Victorian Railways engines from the Seymour Heritage Railway Centre.

St James Rail director Owen Johnstone-Donnet said 119 passengers were taking the six-day trip from Sydney which has a stop-off at the Violet Town 1969 crash memorial and a King Valley excursion on the return leg.

They are being aided by 30 staff with the tour, which cost $4990 twin share, having had a waiting list of 30.

Mr Johnstone-Donnet said that the bulk of those travelling were not gunzels.

"You'd be lucky if there was five train enthusiasts on board," he said.

"Most people don't care what's up the front or what the bogies are underneath or the number on the locomotive, what they care about is if the white wine is cold and the food is good."

The trip follows a 50^th anniversary journey that lasted for 10 days and saw the Southern Aurora travel from Sydney to Melbourne and back to NSW and then pass through Parkes and Brisbane before returning to the Harbour City.

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