The steam locomotive 5917, built in 1952 will carry passengers journeying the six-day Great Southern Loop, rediscovering slow travel from Sydney to Melbourne and returning via Echuca, Deniliquin, Parkes, Orange and Bathurst.

Those who get to see the old train pass through their home town or city will also experience a little nostalgia and charm, Cruise Express managing director Meg Hill said.

Cruise Express, an Australian travel agency specialising in rail and cruise holidays, has chartered the historic locomotive and carriages.

The steam train will travel along the main lines and through stations, arriving in Goulburn at 9.20am and Yass at 10.54am.

Yass residents can view the train on Wargeila Road Bridge, which crosses the railway line.

The train will then carry onto Junee, also passing through Cootamundra at 1.14pm.

Steam trains rarely travel a long distance in Australia and some sections of the planned route have not seen steam trains in many years.

"There's a growing interest in great old trains," Cruise Express managing director Ms Hill said.

"As life speeds up, more of us want to slow down and return to simpler, more graceful times and these beautiful old trains offer us an opportunity to step back in time for a few days."

There was a large crowd for the steam train that rolled into Goulburn on Saturday, May 25 to celebrate 150 years since the first steam train came to the city.

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Goulburn, at the end of the line to Central Station, became "a hub for all points further out," and a conduit for the transport of stock and goods to the state capital and its ports.

Rail's arrival bolstered business, the economy and employment and was the making of the inland city, which responded by building what is now its heritage character.