Sydney Tramway Museum, Transportation museum in Loftus, Australia.
The Sydney Tramway Museum is a tram museum in Loftus, a suburb south of Sydney, Australia, bordering the Royal National Park. The collection brings together restored vehicles from different periods, covering tram operations in Sydney, other Australian cities, and overseas.
Construction at the original site beside the Royal National Park began in August 1956, and the museum was officially opened in March 1965 by NSW Deputy Premier Pat Hills. The state government approved a move across the Princes Highway next to Loftus railway station in 1975, but building only started in April 1980; the first trams arrived in November 1982 and the new site opened on 19 March 1988.
The Railway Square waiting shed, dismantled in 1973, was reassembled at the museum, and the 1880s YMCA sandstone facade from Pitt and Bathurst Streets was relocated here in 2001. The shed appears in the 2018 film Ladies in Black. The museum also publishes Trolley Wire quarterly.
The museum is not open every day, so it is worth checking the schedule before visiting. It sits in a southern suburb of Sydney, so planning the journey in advance, whether by train or car, will make the visit easier.
The museum is one of the few places in the world where historic trams still run on working tracks through wooded land, right next to a national park. The route passes through bush, which makes the ride unlike anything you would find at a typical transport museum.
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