Yass Junction was the nearest railway station on the Sydney Melbourne railway to serve the national capital at Canberra. The uniform gauge (distance between the rails) railway line between Melbourne and Sydney was opened in 1961. The special train had to stop at Yass Junction to pick up William Charles Wentworth. He was a member of parliament who had worked hard to get the railway built. He could not get on the train at Sydney because he was needed in the parliament at Canberra.