1. Thirlmere Station and NSW Rail Museum
- 10 Barbour Road Thirlmere, NSW 2572
Now we are moving onto Thirlmere which is a 5-minute drive from Picton. When leaving the Mushroom tunnel, turn right back onto Argyle Street and follow for a few kilometres until you reach a round-a-bout and take the second exit. Turn left on Bridge Street and follow until the end, when you reach a T-intersection. Turn left onto Thirlmere Way, taking the third exit into Oaks St.
For good parking, either park in the town’s centre of turn left onto Barbour Road and park at NSW Rail Museum. Here you can stop for lunch if you’d like at a café or have a picnic lunch in the barbeque areas at the museum.
Thirlmere station is hard to miss since you drove past it, this part of the rail line is used for the museums steam and diesel engines, the museum runs joy rides every Sunday, permitting the fire ban is lifted. The station was constructed in 1885 and has Victorian influenced architecture with weatherboard cladding [1].
The station shows evidence of an early settlement being developed in the later part of the 19th century, during the construction of the railway the area had a large tent city to house the rail workers [2]. The station is significant as a storage depot for the locomotives was located here before the line was re-routed [3]. The station also includes a turntable, water tanks, signal box, and station master’s residence and museum added over the years.
The well-known Australian television series A Place to Call Home (2013) has filmed various scenes at this location, do you recognize it now?
The NSW Rail Museum is a great location to go and look at the exhibitions of various locomotives and everything NSW rail heritage. A favourite of mine is the giant 6040 Garratt (located in the Great Hall), it is the largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotive in the Southern Hemisphere [4]. If you decide to take a joy ride on a steam engine, one of the locations is Buxton Station, the train travels there and back to Thirlmere again. It’s about a 40-minute round trip and worth the experience.
[1]. Office of Environment and Heritage n.d., Thirlmere Railway Precinct, viewed 17 May 2018, <http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4801299>
[2.] NSW Rail Museum 2018, About the NSW Rail Museum, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.nswrailmuseum.com.au/about>
[3]. Office of Environment and Heritage n.d., Thirlmere Railway Precint, viewed 17 May 2018, <http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4801299>
[4]. NSW Rail Museum 2018, What’s at the Museum, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://www.nswrailmuseum.com.au/the-museum>