The couple said it was incredible the booming hive of activity with locomotive restorations, carriage refurbishments and conversion works all happening simultaneously.

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They are also in the process of continuing restoration on their growing fleet of ex-Southern Aurora used for their Vintage Rail Journeys, with their 10^th rail tour coming up next month.

"It's daunting everyday - even now after doing nine tours," Danielle says. "We have up to a 156-bed hotel on wheels with two restaurants and two bars."

Simon says while it can be nerve-wracking behind the scenes, these ex-Southern Aurora Carriages are now Australia's only privately owned sleeper train taking passengers to some far flung regional communities.

"Our guests are packing a sense of adventure, it's a really immense feeling when you're going on a rail tour," he said.

"People have loved seeing regional NSW - the railways take you places you might not normally visit by car - Everybody knows about Mudgee, but Kandos is a wonderful community we visit, we're going to hold bush dances in the community centre and the kind of welcome we get from some of these regional communities is unreal."

With their tours centered around re-creating the atmosphere of rail travel in the 1960s, the couple also likes to embrace the heritage of their destinations.

"On our Riverina rail tour, the first night is Goulburn, we come to the station and stable for the night," Simon said.

Danielle said after a leisurely cruise out of Sydney the tour arrives in the afternoon where guests can then visit the Round House where they can meet with volunteers and learn a bit of the history.

"They can also go to Rocky Hill and the museum there, which is beautifully curated and another option is to the waterworks."

The couple also has a 1947 flxible clipper bus in original Ansett Airways livery that follows the tour and can serve as a shuttle to various activities during stops.

"We have a beautiful flxible clipper that comes along with us well and that really ties in with the heritage," she said.

The couple bought their first crop of carriages at auction in 2017 when many had already been sidelined for more than 20 years.

"We initially bought seven carriages at auction, and then we continued on and bought another 10," Simon said.

"They would have been turned into farm sheds, so us buying them and restoring them has given them a new lease of life."

It wasn't easy though.

"You can imagine windows were broken, doors were left open some had original carpet and bedding from 1962," Danielle said.

"However, diesel locos had been hauling them so everything got covered in black soot."

Each carriage needed extensive cleaning and many, many buckets of sugar soap to restore the original cloth-weave wallpaper to its original luster.

What began as the couple doing the restoration by themselves was expanded thanks to a Restart Program grant in September of 2019 that allowed them to employ four long-term unemployed people over the age of 50.

"Three of them were here for six months and restored those carriages and one of them still works with us now," Simon said.

"The other thing we've been able to do is receive a regional job creation fund grant to restore this current carriage."

Simon said the current carriage was a lynchpin to expanding the tours and growing the number of passengers they can carry into regional Australian destinations.

Mitchell and Smith have changed very little about the ex-Southern Aurora carriages they now own, with two exceptions.

They've added some creature comforts like charging ports to each cabin, while simultaneously removing ash trays.

The couple said twin rooms had four ash trays each - including ash trays for smoking in bed they were happy to do away with.

"We've restored them to original wherever possible - the personal touch has been to remove those ash trays and add in the USB ports," Simon said.

The couple said they had found some original flyers and memorabilia from the 60s during the clean ups, but one particular challenge was areas of the - no longer available - wallpaper being torn up.

"There were these divets in the wallpaper we think were created by stilettos," they said.

However, they learned the paper wasn't actually missing, but had instead been compressed and a team member - Monique - had been able to somewhat surgically pull out the broken sections and patch them.

After a three-year restorative effort the couple planned their first Golden West Rail Tour for April of 2020. It was entirely sold-out, but inevitably never got to run due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

"Our first rail tour was sold out, but that didn't happen," Danielle said.

However, they were able to make a start in November of that year before three more tours ran successfully in 2021.

Further lockdowns across NSW brought that to another premature halt, but the couple have been able to pull together a further five tours since.

The couple are now proud to house their collection of historic carriages at the Round House, which also carries extensive history.

The Round House has been a hive of activity with engine and carriage works being carried out by multiple companies, while Simon and Danielle are also gearing up for their next two tours.

Vintage Rail Journeys will run two Riverina Tours with the next set to go ahead on August 28.

Both will feature Goulburn as their first stop.