Progress Updates

During the steam era, watering facilities at NSW railway stations were vital to the operation of trains across the state. Steam locomotives required a constant supply of water for their boilers, but only had limited capacity to carry water with them. Locomotives would stop at planned destinations along their route to take on water, often giving passengers the opportunity to visit the local refreshment room. Larger railway yards, like Cooma, had dedicated loco facilities which included a coal stage for replenishing coal supplies, overnight stabling, turning facilities and often more than one water column. Recently, our volunteers have started [...]

Our volunteers have been busy working on the static restoration of the refuelling facilities at the southern end of the platform and the operational restoration of Ground Frame B. Today, the team spent the day clearing decades of dirt and rock that has fallen down the bank, covering large sections of the ground facilities as well as clearing dirt, rock and gravel from the spill pits under the track. The team also finished the re-painting of Ground Frame B that has been both operationally and cosmetically restored. Check out some of the work from our volunteers today. Looking good [...]

Our volunteers have commenced the static restoration of the diesel refuelling facilities at the southern end of the station platform. Hoses, pipes, framework and rigging is being reassembled and painted, while new doors have been installed on on the cupboards. The refuelling facilities were used by diesel hauled trains from Sydney, who would refuel before heading back north, as well as the southbound diesel railmotor and freight services with multiple refuelling points available along the main platform road. The ground frame that controls access to the southern dock platform, is also receiving some attention as the interlocking system is [...]

After being entirely stripped down, sand blasted, repaired and painted, our volunteers have now started to re-assemble the vehicle. Fresh decking boards have been installed while the wheels and brake system have also been put back together. It's taken a while to get to this stage but the result is looking amazing. 🙌 With a few more body pieces to attach, the restoration of the body and running gear will be complete, and our volunteers can turn their attention to the motor. Unfortunately, the motor isn't looking as good as the rest of the vehicle and requires a complete [...]

The restoration of the Cooma Railway Institute Tennis Courts is starting to take shape. The transformation has been exciting to watch and the surface is starting to look amazing. 🤩 Originally constructed in 1928 from Ant Hills or Termite Mounts, the courts are almost 100 years old and were built for the railway workers at Cooma and their families. As part of the Cooma Railway Institute restoration, a new retaining wall has been constructed between the oil siding above, new fencing has been installed around the courts, services have been reconnected to the toilet block, and a completely new [...]

With school out for a couple of weeks, some of our Cadets took the opportunity to join our weekday team and continue work on the restoration of one of our VM Ganger Trolleys. This trolley has been completely disassembled and repaired both structurally and cosmetically. The team has been busy priming and painting all the components while learning about how the vehicle is constructed, with reassembly planned for next week. Once the mechanical work has been completed on drivetrain, this vehicle will go in to service with our track crew to assist with inspection and repairs on the track [...]

It was back to the classroom for our volunteers yesterday as we ramp up our training program to increase the number of people that are qualified in various areas of our operation. One of the exciting aspects of our recent training activities is that we've been able to use the recently restored Cooma Railway Institute building to facilitate our training. For decades, railway workers in Cooma would have used this space for their training and education, so it's great to see this occurring one again. We are still putting the finishing touches on the building restoration, but this space [...]

Thanks to the dedication of our brush cutting maestro Caelan, the Snowy Junction railway precinct is slowly coming back to life. With the majority of the vegetation now cleared, we've been able to expose the various remains of the original Snowy Junction yard, as well as a decades worth of wire and rubbish.The waste and remains of the Polo Flat level crossing that was removed a few years ago have also been dumped throughout the grounds which is disappointing, as we will now have to pay for it's disposal. We are currently working on the re-instatement of this level crossing.We [...]

As the word had passed around...well, around our volunteers anyway. Yesterday was a huge day of rolling stock movements in the Cooma yard. The first time in almost a decade that trains have moved along the rails at Cooma. Not only were we able to move Locomotive 3203 into it's new temporary shelter beside the Goods Shed, we were able to re-arrange our heritage wagons so that our current restoration projects, MBC22959 and L759 have been moved into more optimal locations for restoration work. Thank you to all of our volunteers for ensuring that we had such a successful [...]

How time flies! Next week will be 6 months since our museum opened last December, and what an exciting 6 months it has been, with the arrival of Steam Locomotive 3203 and winning the award for Outstanding Visitor Experience at the recent Snowy Monaro Business Awards. Over the past few months, our volunteers have been working on a number of projects that will expand the current museum experience and allow visitors to get up close to some of our heritage rolling stock. One of these projects is the installation of access pathways, linking the Station Platform with other sections [...]