Thirlmere Rail Museum
20 October 2023 / Story: Dewi & Neil Brewitt; Photos: Dewi Brewitt
Choo Choo!
Sunday morning, 15th October 2023, 8 MX5s, 1 from the Canberra, 1 from Illawarra and 6 from the South Coast, set out for our run to Thirlmere, NSW for a visit to the NSW Rail Museum and a ride on the steam train, with Bill, Jan & Goldilocks as our run leaders.
Our first stop was Kangaroo Valley for morning tea. After morning tea, we set out for our leisurely drive towards Thirlmere, along beautiful scenic Southern Highland roads in fabulous spring weather with our tops down.
Despite the detours due to Goldilocks’ dodgy GPS, we still arrived in Thirlmere earlier than expected as the train we were planning to be on did not start its run till 2pm. So, we adjourned to the ‘huge metropolis’ of Thirlmere and had lunch at the local bakery.
After lunch, we walked to the Rail Museum where we purchased our museum entry and train ride tickets. The museum has a number of static displays of the past glory of steam and an amazing collection of locomotives and carriages, all beautifully restored. The train ride took us to Buxton, which is 7km up the track, and back. We were told by our conductor, Simon, that there are plans to extend the rail further past Buxton in the near future. We got off the train at Buxton so we could watch the locomotive being uncoupled. It then used the side track to get to the other end of the carriages and recoupled for our return trip to Thirlmere.
For train lovers, like us, it was a nostalgic trip in the past sitting in our second-class compartment pulled by a 1903 steam locomotive. The journey was over far too quickly and after another quick look around the museum by some of us, we all made our own way home.
Thank you for leading the run, Goldilocks!
Written by: Dewi & Neil Brewitt
