The 30th Maitland Steamfest will feature a number of new attractions to celebrate its milestone year.
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A four-train race, a record crowd and the opening of the railway line through to Cessnock are just three of the highlights organisers hope they can pull off.
One of the event's organisers and Maitland councillor Peter Garnham said Steamfest 2016 has attracted widespread national and international attention and he is tipping an 80,000-strong crowd to visit Maitland over the two days on April 9 and 10.
Some of the events we have planned this year can't happen every year but we are committed to getting them off the ground for this very special anniversary," Mr Garnham said.
He said the four-train race is probably organisers' biggest feat with consultation between committee members, the Joint Coal Board and ARTC to shut down the Hunter Valley rail coal chain for four hours.
Mr Garnham said the event has been about three years in the planning and while still not set in stone he is confident it will get the green light.
He said organisers are also hoping to run trains out to Cessnock by re-opening the line to the Coalfields heartland.
Maitland City Council has allocated extra money for the Steamfest committee to create additional activities and to market the event.
Mr Garnham said he was unsure how accommodation bookings were looking at this stage but believes Maitland and surrounding towns will be hanging out the "No Vacancy" signs over the two days.
