Travel Australia

NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere, NSW

The New South Wales Rail Museum has long been Australia's largest and oldest railway museum with over 125 railway exhibits. It is the home to many steam and diesel locomotives. A major redevelopment saw the locomotive depot relocated to a roundhouse built at the southern end of the site opening in November 2009. To create room for stage two of the development of the museum, some of the exhibits were moved to Broadmeadow and Goulburn in 2009. Work on stage two began in December 2009, which included demolition of the existing locomotive maintenance building, construction of a new major exhibits building and other works.



Steam train rides are available on Sundays except where there is a declared total fire ban, when trains are hauled by diesel locomotives. The Museum also operates excursion trains from Sydney to Thirlmere hauled by steam and/or diesel locomotives.



Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm; Saturday and Sunday 9am - 5pm; Closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day
Entry fees apply. Museum Tickets, Sunday Steam Train Tickets and Combination Museum + Steam Train Tickets available on the day from Reception.
Location: 10 Barbour Street, Thirlmere.

About Thirlmere

Thirlmere, like many towns and villages in regional New South Wales, was born with the coming of the Great Southern Railway in 1863 to 1867, when a large temporary tent city grew up to house the railway workers. It was valued for its proximity to Thirlmere Lakes which provided water for the steam trains. The water was pumped to a siding at the nearby town of Couridjah.



The Thirlmere section of the Main Southern Railway was deviated in 1919 to a less steep alignment with easier grades, and the original line became the Picton Loop Line. Today, the Loop Line provides a link to the main line which enables heritage trains to operate beyond the local area and to run on a line clear of other working trains. Each year, the town 's population grows to over 15,000 as visitors flock to the Thirlmere Festival of Steam   NSW's premier annual steam event featuring the state's biggest gathering of main-line steam locos and all the fun of the fair and markets.

3801

Faster and more powerful than their predecessors, the 38 class were able to haul more carriages while reducing travel times on the celebrated express services. Their modern equipment made them easy to operate. The large boiler, sometimes tiring to fire, was forgiving. Their spacious cabs with padded seats raised the bar for crew comfort. Allocated to the important express trains, only the best crews were rostered to work the 38s.



To the travelling public, the class embodied the romance of the steam era, of express trains racing through the countryside from city to city. The first five locomotives, with their distinctive streamlined casings, were instantly recognisable – their sleek lines evoking a sense of speed and modernity. The non-streamlined 38s were large and solid and gave the perception of safety and reliability. The 38 class remained the darlings of the railways until their withdrawal from service during the 1960s and 1970s. They were the last steam engines built in NSW for passenger operations.

A total of 30 engines were built. Today, 3801 is the only streamlined steam locomotive to survive in fully operational form in NSW, and is housed and on display at the NSW Railway Museum, Thirlmere. Locomotive 3801 was built in 1943 by Clyde Engineering and has been in preservation since its retirement from the NSW Railways in 1962. The locomotive was withdrawn from heritage service in 2007 for restoration and major boiler repairs. 3801 was officially relaunched at Sydney's Central Station on Friday 12 March 2021 by Her Excellency, the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of NSW.