Retired, stuffed and mounted.
This scene is at the Richmond Vale Railway Museum at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, west of Newcastle in New South Wales. The museum is on the site of the former Richmond Main Colliery which is also technically retained as a museum and historic site but not accessible to the public except from outside barriers as it is not maintained and falling into disrepair. Sadly the railway museum is also struggling in times when volunteers and cash to operate it are in short supply. Worse still, the museum has been badly impacted by two bushfires, one of which was apparently deliberately lit which destroyed many stored and preserved historic items of rollingstock. A timber bridge on the railway just outside the museum was also destroyed cutting short the opportunity for a reasonable trip on the former railway and making it even less attractive to customers.
This is former BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Company) diesel locomotive no. 32 which would have worked at the company's former local steelworks or associated mills before they were all closed. It is operable and curiously listed as no. 34 in the attached Wikipedia article. The restored brakevan was used on the steam hauled coal trains of non-air (no brakes!) four wheeled wooden coal hopper wagons that were used throughout the region when the mines in the eastern Hunter were still operating. Despite the loss of valuable and irreplaceable rollingstock in the fires, the museum still has a fine selection of locomotives and wagons associated with the coal mining and steel milling industries of the area.
More to come from this location which we visited during our August holiday.
Retired, stuffed and mounted.
This scene is at the Richmond Vale Railway Museum at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, west of Newcastle in New South Wales. The museum is on the site of the former Richmond Main Colliery which is also technically retained as a museum and historic site but not accessible to the public except from outside barriers as it is not maintained and falling into disrepair. Sadly the railway museum is also struggling in times when volunteers and cash to operate it are in short supply. Worse still, the museum has been badly impacted by two bushfires, one of which was apparently deliberately lit which destroyed many stored and preserved historic items of rollingstock. A timber bridge on the railway just outside the museum was also destroyed cutting short the opportunity for a reasonable trip on the former railway and making it even less attractive to customers.
This is former BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Company) diesel locomotive no. 32 which would have worked at the company's former local steelworks or associated mills before they were all closed. It is operable and curiously listed as no. 34 in the attached Wikipedia article. The restored brakevan was used on the steam hauled coal trains of non-air (no brakes!) four wheeled wooden coal hopper wagons that were used throughout the region when the mines in the eastern Hunter were still operating. Despite the loss of valuable and irreplaceable rollingstock in the fires, the museum still has a fine selection of locomotives and wagons associated with the coal mining and steel milling industries of the area.
More to come from this location which we visited during our August holiday.