A Trip to the NSW Rail Museum
A daytrip to the NSW Rail Museum, in Thirlmere, including a ride on the Loop Line to Buxton
Having recently purchased a yearly membership with Transport Heritage, I was keen to take advantage of the free entry into the NSW Rail Museum which meant a daytrip down to Thirlmere with a friend.
The Loop Line
During the school holidays and on weekends, heritage steam train rides operate from the station adjacent to the museum in Thirlmere down to Buxton and return along the former Main South alignment (now called the Loop Line). It is roughly a 40-minute ride in total, with the steam locomotive required to run around at both ends.
The train itself is made up of well-preserved wooden carriages, with comfortable seating in 8-person compartments, although when we went the train was fairly empty. Each compartment also has a standard power outlet but we were unable to test whether it was functional or not.
Once we arrived into the small platform at Buxton, there was a brief stop as 3001 ran around the train to couple to the other end. The platform is mostly made of gravel and a black and white station sign but otherwise there is not much of note.
The Museum
Upon returning to Thirlmere Station, we were able to explore the museum itself. Within the indoor section, there are quite a number of static exhibits, even including a heritage prison van, fitted with talking wax figures!
By far the largest footprint of the museum consists of the undercover "Great Train Hall" directly behind the main exhibition building. Inside was a collection of various heritage trains including some carriages open for visitors to walk though.
The legendary steam locomotive 3801 was also on show in the hall, although in a fenced off area not directly accessible by visitors.
3801 hasn't been seen in operation for quite some time, and it does appear some work is being done (note the WD40 can in the image above). Hopefully we can see 3801 return to heritage operations in the near future.
Toward the rear of the hall, near the roundhouse were some electric trains, including an 86 class electric locomotive, 8646, in faded FreightCorp colours.
Whilst 8646 is non-operational, its classmates 8606 and 8649 (with SETS¹) have been restored to working condition, with 8649 occasionally appearing to help with trackwork in the underground City Circle. Just before the 2022 Transport Heritage Expo, 8649 was repainted into the original Candy livery, making for a very eye-catching exterior.
At the end of the train hall sits a large roundhouse with a turntable, but this section was not open when we visited.
Food and Merchandise
Of course, any museum would be incomplete without merch and a café. Near the entryway, there is a small combined café and shop with some seating.
The shop has a decent selection of the usual types of merchandise for resonable prices, with hats, shirts, magnets and keychains depicting different members of their heritage fleet. An assortment of railway-related books and copies of their in-house magazine, Roundhouse are also for sale.
Transport Heritage members receive a 10% discount at the shop which is nice. It's not advertised, but about an hour before closing time (so 3pm on the Monday we visited), they close down the warmer for the pies, selling any remaining hot food for half price — not a bad deal.
Closing Thoughts
Although the museum is a bit far from Sydney (approximately an hour and thirty minutes via the Hume), its perfect for a day trip. The final half hour or so down the Old Hume and Thirlmere Way is particularly scenic, with great views of rolling fields of grass and paddocks.
The indoor section of the museum is well-maintained with high quality exhibits for a wide variety of age groups, and the train hall is pretty expansive, from steam to diesel and former suburban electric stock. Certainly a good visit for anyone interested in the railway history of NSW or just enthusiasts in general.
Unfortunately, getting to the museum by public transport is much more difficult than driving. The nearest train station, Tahmoor, is on the poorly served Southern Highlands line (SHL), and connecting buses are very infrequent.
