A vital element in bolstering CMR’s return to the rails arrived in the Cooma railway freight yard today.

A heavy haulage trio of trucks has delivered 320 bridge transoms that have been recycled from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, courtesy of the NSW Government, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and Sydney Trains.

The transoms became available as they were being replaced by concrete sleepers on the iconic bridge and will be used to repair or rebuild the culverts and bridges along CMR’s track network both north and south of the yard.

Our priority is to rebuild the culvert that was burnt-out in a 2013 arson attack. The culvert is within the fenced and secure perimeter of the Cooma railway precinct, and its repair will allow CMR to test-run its heritage rail fleet ahead of operations outside of the yard. The repaired culvert will be stronger than before, as we will convert this culvert to a transom top, replacing the old-style ballast top which had fewer strengthening transom structural beams.

CMR is indebted to our supporters, which include local company Monaro Freight who assisted CMR once again with the provision of a forklift and operator to unload and stack the transoms.

We also extend our sincere thanks and gratitude for the donation of the transoms, and for covering the costs of freight to Cooma. We are constantly pleased to have the assistance and support of the NSW Government, TfNSW and Sydney Trains to ensure CMR returns heritage rail operations to the Snowy Monaro region.

For more information on NSW rail operations please see #TfNSW and #sydneytrains