Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum, Railway museum in Dorrigo, Australia.
The Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum is a collection of railway vehicles on a property in Dorrigo featuring steam locomotives, diesel engines, and freight cars of different types. The site displays equipment and machinery that shows how railways operated and what kinds of vehicles were used for passenger and goods transport.
The museum was founded in 1973 after a railway branch line closed, and it began collecting vehicles from different operators, some dating back to the late 1800s. These machines record the development of rail transport from its early days to more modern times.
The collection began with the Hunter Valley Steam Railway & Museum in 1973, formed after the Glenreagh to Dorrigo branch line closed the previous year, and was renamed the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum in 1982. On 5 April 1986 locomotives 3028 and 5069 hauled the first steam service over the final 13 kilometres from Megan to Dorrigo with 300 members aboard. A dispute over ownership of the collection then halted progress until February 1999.
The collection sits on a field in Dorrigo, with the black steam locomotives and their carriages lined up in the open and a rust-red tank standing to the right. The museum has been described as "not yet open to the public" since a brief opening in 1986, so confirm access before travelling.
The collection spans vehicles built between 1878 and 1985, and by 2017 it held 75 locomotives, 19 railmotors and 280 carriages and wagons, the largest private collection in the southern hemisphere. Among the stored diesels are 42, 421, 44, 45, 47, 48 and 49 class locomotives, plus 46 and 85 class electrics and 70 and 73 class diesel hydraulics.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,478 contributors worldwide.