Insurance problems have prompted the cancellation of the annual historic engine display at Leneva this Easter, but there is hope train rides will still be staged.
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The Border Steam and Oil Engine Club administers the machinery exhibits, while Wombat Gully Tramways manages the train operations.
Both organisations have experienced changes to their insurance set-up in the lead in to the 2024 rally, due to be held in late March.
Club president Darren Dakos said after failing to secure coverage for this year it was decided to cancel the rally.
"It's very frustrating after 50 or more years not to be able to have an annual event, it's very, very hard," Mr Dakos said.
"It's unfortunate we have to do this, some people have been coming since they were little children and are now bringing their children, so there's a lot of heritage out there."
Mr Dakos said previously there had been a joint insurance deal with the club and tramways, but a shake-up in the way tourist railways are covered had resulted in both organisations pursuing their own arrangements.
He said he expected his members would be covered under the National Historical Machinery Association umbrella group later in the year which would allow them to return in 2025.
Tramways representative Anna Kusmierski is holding out for an eleventh hour deal.
"We are still hoping to run the trains, we have a very enthusiastic volunteer group, including some that come from Melbourne, that put in a lot of time and effort," she said.
"We would like to run it, however it's just dependent on getting insurance."
Because the Leneva railway gauge is under two foot (60 centimetres) it has not been able to secure coverage, as other tourist services, which are that size or bigger, have under a national pact.
"Unfortunately it's deemed to be a high risk activity, even though the train runs at 8kmh," Mrs Kusmierski said.
"We run primarily on Easter weekend, we run for 20 hours a year and we pay a lot of money for that and our insurance money and takings cover that just, if at all."
She is waiting until the end of February to nail a deal and if it is not done at that time, the train rides will also be canned for this year.
One year in the 1990s in the wake of insurance problems caused by the collapse of the National Safety Council, the rail service stopped while the engine show continued.
In 2020, shortly after the explosion of COVID in Australia, the entire rally was cancelled.
It returned under COVID restrictions in 2021 and numbers had bounced back to their pre-pandemic levels by last year.
