Historic Pakenham homestead with Red Rattler train carriage listed for sale

A unique hilltop estate on Melbourne’s fringe, complete with a converted 1917 train carriage, has hit the market for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Mount Beauty, located at 95 Thewlis Road, Pakenham, offers sweeping 270-degree views across Western Port Bay, the Mornington Peninsula, and Melbourne’s skyline. The 12-hectare property includes a rustic four-bedroom homestead, a quirky self-contained train carriage, and two separate titles.

Jessica Wade, who moved to the property as a teenager from London in the 1970s, is managing the sale on behalf of her siblings. She recalled the lifestyle shift fondly.

“It was a very, very different lifestyle for us and a wonderful one,” she said. “I used to catch a double-decker bus to school in London but here, I rode a horse to school once.”

The Wade family renovated the homestead in the 1980s and added the Red Rattler carriage shortly after. Positioned beside a covered terrace and styled as though parked at a station, the carriage features a bedroom, ensuite, lounge, kitchen with pot belly stove, dining room and sunroom. It has served as popular guest accommodation and an Airbnb rental.

“It’s a gorgeous old thing, quite cosy and lovely,” Wade said. “It’s been a focus for family weddings and parties and housed numerous guests.”

The main residence includes three bathrooms, a formal lounge, spacious family area, home office with separate entry, and an L-shaped verandah to take in the elevated views.

Additional features include a large garage/workshop, hay shed, spring-fed dam, mains water supply, and two 10,000-litre water tanks. The second lot, measuring one hectare, is flat, vacant, and zoned for potential development with a building envelope and road access.

The land is currently zoned Green Wedge, but a process is underway to have it reclassified as Urban Growth Zone. The property borders two new residential estates and lies near shopping centres, schools and transport routes.

“There’s very heavy development around us; it’s a very different area now to when we first arrived,” Wade said. “But up on Mount Beauty, it still feels quiet and peaceful. The views are magnificent.”