National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide

The National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, South Australia is the largest under-cover railway museum in Australia. More than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the South Australian Railways (SAR), Commonwealth Railways (CR) and their successor, Australian National (AN), are displayed at its site. A large archival collection of photographs of those railways and records created by them is also managed by the museum. The museum is a self-funded, registered not-for-profit, volunteer-managed organisation that occasionally receives government grants for special projects. Apart from the duties of three paid staff members, all of its activities are conducted by more than 150 volunteers.

History

Mile End, 1964–1988 In 1963, a group of rail preservationists, alarmed at the scrapping of steam locomotives which had served South Australia for many decades, set about saving, restoring and maintaining many of the historic vehicles in the Museum today. They asked John Fargher the South Australian Railways Commissioner, to allocate land near the site of the former Mile End locomotive depot to hold their small collection. The first locomotive arrived in 1964 and in 1970 the site opened as the Mile End Railway Museum, albeit on a fully voluntary basis and on only two afternoons a month. Unfortunately, only a few exhibits were under cover and the effects of weather took their toll. An alternative, under-cover venue was sought.

Move to Port Adelaide In 1985 the museum, with the involvement of the History Trust of South Australia, obtained a $2 million Australian Bicentenary commemorative grant to redevelop the former Port Dock railway station goods terminal, off Lipson Street, Port Adelaide, as the new museum site. In January 1988, the museum closed at Mile End and 11 months later opened as the Port Dock Station Railway Museum. The facility, with a pavilion at its core, opened in 2001 housing a representative sample of exhibits from the South Australian Railways, the Commonwealth Railways and their successor, the Australian National Railways Commission.The Australian National Railways Commission used the trading names, successively: Australian National Railways, Australian National, and AN (the latter being a trademark).

In 1999, funding was received as part of Australia's Centenary of Federation to provide another, , pavilion housing the increasing number of exhibits from the Commonwealth Railways and its successor. At the 2001 opening, the museum was renamed the National Railway Museum on the initiative of deputy prime minister and noted railway enthusiast, Tim Fischer, AC.

Subsequently, the main pavilion was named after Ron Fitch, who as South Australian Railways Commissioner had been very supportive, including with the acquisition and transfer of much of the museum's early rolling stock. The Commonwealth Railways pavilion was named after Ron Fluck, the museum's founder.

New rail service to the museum In 2017, $16.4 million was allocated in the state budget for a new station to be built near the original site of the Port Dock railway station, at the end of a new 1.0 km (1100 yard) spur line subscription: the source is only accessible via a paid subscription ("paywall"). using the existing corridor beside the museum that connects to the Outer Harbor railway line. In June 2019, when some museum track had already been dismantled, the development was paused while a North West Planning Study was conducted; a forecast cost increase to $40 million was cited.Adelaide's public transport going back to the future under Stephan Knoll ABC News, 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019. On-ground preparatory work was reversed in January 2020.

In June 2023 the project, by then budgeted at $51 million, resumed with partial severing of the direct rail connection to suburban lines, followed by removal of some of the museum's rail siding storage space. A general loss of land in the museum's leaseholding was incurred. The line extension was planned to include a dual-purpose island platform for both regular suburban services and on the other side of the platform during special event days and holidays, broad-gauge heritage trains.

Collection A 616-page PDF digital publication providing comprehensive details of all National Railway Museum exhibits is under the heading Further reading.

The museum houses its static collection of more than 100 exhibits in the two main pavilions and the historic Port Dock railway station goods shed. All three mainline gauges of Australia are represented: narrow, ; standard, ; and broad . Items are mainly preserved from the South Australian Railways, Commonwealth Railways and their successor, the Australian National Railways Commission; printed and photographic records also include material from other state railway administrations. Rolling stock includes famous passenger train vehicles such as those of The Overland, The Ghan, the Trans-Australian and the Tea and Sugar trains. Items from the Silverton Tramway and Victorian Railways are also held.

Operational locomotives and railcars on these gauges are: narrow gauge: former Broken Hill Associated Smelters steam locomotive Peronne (1918 Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T tank locomotive) broad gauge: former SAR diesel-electric locomotives 515, 703 and 801; "Red Hen" railcars 321 and 400; and "Bluebird" railcar 257. The museum also operates locomotives, including steam locomotives Bill (with a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement) and Bub (0-4-2 T), for visitor rides on its track around the site.

Locomotive and railcar exhibits , the museum housed the following items of locomotives and railcars, among other objects: Steam locomotives SAR Rx 93 SAR Y 97 SAR P 117 SAR T 253 SAR F 255 SAR 409 SAR 504 Tom Barr Smith SAR 523 Essington Lewis SAR 624 SAR 702 SAR (ex VR) 752 CR G 1 CR NM 34 Silverton Tramway Y 12 Silverton Tramway A 21 Silverton Tramway W 25 Broken Hill Associated Smelters Peronne BHP Whyalla no. 4

Diesel locomotives SAR diesel shunter 515 & 517 ←(515 is operational) SAR mainline diesel 703 ←(operational) SAR diesel shunter 801 ←(operational) SAR mainline diesel 900 SAR mainline diesel 930 CR GM class GM 2 CR mainline diesel NSU 61 CR diesel shunter DE 91

Railcars SAR Model 55 Brill railcar no. 8 ←(under major restoration) SAR Model 75 Brill railcar no. 41 SAR Bluebird railcar no. 257, Kestrel ←(operational) SAR "Red Hen" railcars nos 321 and 400 ←(operational) STA 2000 class railcars nos 2006 and 2112 CR Budd railcar no. CB 1

Operations

During "special event" days, the museum operates various historic locomotives for shunting of rolling stock.

Each day within the museum grounds, a narrow-gauge diesel or steam locomotive gives free rides to visitorsCovered by museum entrance charge. on a track, long, that circles the site.

In 1992, the museum, in cooperation with the Port Adelaide and Enfield Council, built a line of the same gauge from Semaphore to Fort Glanville. The line travels along the coastline, through the sand dunes and the Fort Glanville Conservation Park. Trains operate on weekends, public holidays and school holidays from October to April, subject to the morning forecast temperature being less than .

Since 1982 the museum has published its bi-monthly Catch Point Magazine, a full-colour, A5-format, 48-page magazine that features news and articles about railway operations mainly in South Australia.

Buildings The museum has a number of historic buildings, some original to the site and others transported for display, including the following: Port Dock station goods shed: this is the only remaining intact building of the Port Adelaide (later named Port Dock) station complex. Typical of South Australian Railways structures of the 19th century, architecturally it is an austere industrial building notable for its scale and the use of large timber beams throughout. Its size and scale reflect the economic prosperity of South Australia when it was built, in 1878 – a time when Port Adelaide's facilities were being extended to serve the growing import and export trade. It has been entered in the SA Heritage Register. Woodville signal cabin: this two-storey wooden building from suburban Woodville, prominently backing on to Lipson Street, is connected to the narrow gauge yard. Callington shelter shed: typical of a type of building provided by the South Australian Railways at small country stations, this shelter shed and minuscule booking office was originally built in 1951 for the then small rural community of Callington, west of Murray Bridge on the main Adelaide-Melbourne line. Eudunda gangers' shed: typical of hundreds of such sheds on the South Australian Railways where track-maintenance gangers and packers held their tools and track inspection trolleys, this example came from Eudunda, north of Adelaide.

Gallery

National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide

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