Australia's National Railway Museum is the largest railway museum in Australia. More than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Aust ...

(SAR) and

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. O ...

and their successor, Australian National, are on display at its site in

Port Adelaide, South Australia Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the c ...

. The museum opened at Lipson Street in 1988 after 18 years at the SAR's former main locomotive depot at

Mile End Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...

History

NRMPortAdelaideLocomotivePeronne15July2007

Mile End, 1964–1988

In 1963, a group of rail preservationists asked the

Commissioner to allocate land on the site of the former

roundhouse to hold a small collection of withdrawn steam locomotives. The first locomotive arrived in 1964 and in 1970 the site opened as the Mile End Railway Museum. 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 1987, the Mile End Railway Museum obtained a $2 million Australia's Bicentennial commemorative grant to redevelop the former Port Dock goods terminal as the new property. In January 1988, the museum closed at Mile End and 11 months later opened as the Port Dock Station Railway Museum. In 1999, funding was received as part of Australia's Centenary of Federation to construct a Commonwealth Railway Museum within the museum's precinct. The facility, opened in 2001, houses a representative sample of exhibits from the

and its successor, the

Australian National Railways Commission The Australian National Railways Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia that was a railway operator between 1975 and 1998. It traded as Australian National Railways (ANR) in its early years, before being rebranded as Australian ...

, later named Australian National. Included are vehicles from ''

The Ghan ''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...

'', '' Tea and Sugar'' and ''

Trans-Australian The ''Trans-Australian'' (originally known as the ''Trans-Australian Express'') was an Australian passenger train operated by the Commonwealth Railways initially between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie on the Trans-Australian Railway line, and lat ...

'' trains. At the opening, the museum was renamed the National Railway Museum on the initiative of deputy prime minister and noted railway enthusiast,

Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. Fischer ...

, AC. In May 2009, the main pavilion was named after

Ron Fitch Ronald John Fitch (8 June 1910 – 20 July 2015) was an Australian railway executive and railway engineer. The majority of his working career was with the Western Australian Government Railways, Commonwealth Railways and the South Australian R ...

, who as South Australian Railways Commissioner had facilitated the transfer of much of the museum's early rolling stock. At the same time, the Commonwealth Railways Museum was renamed the Ronald E. Fluck Pavilion, after the museum's founder. In 2017, $16.4 million was allocated in the

state budget A government budget is a document prepared by the government and/or other political entity presenting its anticipated tax revenues (Inheritance tax, income tax, corporation tax, import taxes) and proposed spending/expenditure (Healthcare, Educa ...

for a new station to be built next to Baker Street, near the original site of the

Port Dock railway station Port Dock railway station – named Port Adelaide until 1916 – was located in the commercial centre of Port Adelaide, South Australia at the corner of St Vincent Street and Lipson Street. It was the original terminus of the railway betwe ...

. It was to be at the end of a new 1.0 km (1100 yard) spur line Lock-red-alt-2

subscription: the source is only accessible via a paid subscription ("

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

"). using the existing corridor beside the museum that connects to the

Outer Harbor railway line The Outer Harbor railway line is a suburban branch line in Adelaide, South Australia. It runs from Adelaide station through the north western suburbs to Port Adelaide and Outer Harbor. It is 21.9 kilometres in length, and shares part of its ru ...

. However, 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. On-ground preparatory work was reversed in January 2020.

Collection

The museum houses its large static collection in two pavilions and the historic Port Dock railway station goods shed. On the site, all three mainline gauges of Australia are represented: narrow, ; standard, ; and broad . The collection comprises more than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the

and

. It also holds rolling stock from the Silverton Tramway and

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

. 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 __NOTOC__ Year 515 ( DXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Florentius and Anthemius (or, less frequently, year 1268 ...

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 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

wheel arrangement) and ''Bub'' (

0-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. While the first locom ...

T), for visitor rides on its track around the site.

Locomotive and railcar exhibits

;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 Essington Lewis, CH (13 January 18812 October 1961) was a prominent Australian industrialist. He was the Director-General of the Department of Munitions during World War II. Biography Early life Essington Lewis was born in Burra, South Aust ...

'' * 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 ←''(operational)'' * BHP Whyalla no. 4 ;Diesel locomotives: * SAR diesel shunter 515 & 517 ←''(no. 515 is 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 8 * SAR Model 75 Brill railcar 41 * SAR Bluebird railcar 257 ''Kestrel'' ←''(operational)'' * SAR Redhen railcars 321 and 400 ←''(operational)'' * STA 2000 class railcars 2006 and 2112 * CR Budd Railcar CB 1

Operations

The museum operates a number of historic locomotives for shunting of

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...

and during special events. Within the museum grounds, -gauge steam and diesel locomotives provide rides on a track long. In 1992, the museum, in cooperation with the local council, built a line along the beach from

Semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arr ...

to Fort Glanville. From October to April, trains operate – subject to temperatures being less than – on weekends, public holidays and school holidays. The line travels along the coastline, through the sand dunes and the

Fort Glanville Conservation Park Fort Glanville Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia located in Semaphore Park, a seaside suburb of Adelaide consisting of a functional 19th century fort listed on the South Australian Heritage ...

; the locomotive is turned at each end. 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 th
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 Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had ...

, 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 held their tools and track inspection trolleys, this example came from

Eudunda Eudunda is a rural town in South Australia, roughly 103 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, established in 1870 after settlers began moving into the area in the 1860s. As of the 2006 census, Eudunda had a population of 640. Eudunda is in the Regi ...

, north of Adelaide.

Gallery

File:Bub + train, NRM, 2014 (04).JPG, A train on the museum's 1.7 km (1 mi) Semaphore and Fort Glanville Tourist Railway, headed by miniature

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

, ''Bub'' File:Semaphore and Fort Glanville Tourist Railway turntable.jpg, Turning a miniature locomotive on the seafront line at Semaphore File:South Australian Railways 900 class locomotive number 900 at Mile End locomotive depot before transfer to museum.jpg, SAR-designed and built diesel-electric locomotive no. 900 ready for transfer to the museum File:DA52, NRM, 2014(3).JPG,

dining car DA 52, which served fine food across the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...

between 1930 and the 1960s File:GM2 National Railway Museum Port Adelaide.jpg, Commonwealth Railways GM class diesel-electric locomotives, such as no. GM2, revolutionised schedules on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the east ...

in 1951 File:Railway signalling and safeworking display, NRM, 2014(3).JPG,

Railway signalling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormo ...

and safeworking display File:SAR 41 Brill, NRM, 2014.JPG,

75-class railcars, designed by US company Brill, were introduced in 1928 to run on suburban and country lines alike File:Woodville signal cabin, NRM, 2014.JPG, alt=Woodville Signal Cabin, The relocated Woodville

signal cabin On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timeta ...

File:BHP 4, NRM, 2014.JPG, 1914-built locomotive no. 4, which hauled BHP iron ore trains from Iron Knob to Whyalla File:Preserved South Australian Railways 400 class Beyer-Garratt loco 409 at National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, 2015 (Brett Shillabeer).jpg, Narrow-gauge Beyer-Garratt 400 class locomotive no. 409 was one of ten introduced in 1954 to haul silver-lead-zinc ore trains to Port Pirie

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Official Website
{{Port Adelaide landmarks Museums in Adelaide National railway museums Railway museums in South Australia 1963 establishments in Australia