The Cooma Monaro Railway is a heritage railway museum that is actively restoring the Cooma Railway Precinct while working on the restoration of tourist trains along the section of track on the Bombala line between

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

and the terminus at Bombala in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Restoration of the track within the yard at Cooma is currently being restored along with the section north to Snowy Junction. The Cooma Monaro Railway Museum, including the Travel for Pleasure exhibit will open in December 2022 at Cooma Railway Station with tourist trains expected to return in 2023. The railway also run a monthly fresh produce market on the second Sunday of the month at Cooma Railway Station.

History

Regular services on the Bombala line ceased south of Queanbeyan with the withdrawal of the ''

Canberra Monaro Express The Canberra Monaro Express was a passenger train operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between Sydney, Canberra and Cooma from May 1955 until September 1988. It was formed by two four-carriage DEB railcar sets and replaced the ...

'' in September 1988. Following a bridge carrying the line over the

Numeralla River The Numeralla River, a perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia. The name of the river is claimed to derive from an Aboriginal ...

at Chakola being declared unsafe, freight services south of Queanbeyan ceased in May 1989. However a steam special did operate through to Cooma a few weeks later, albeit without passengers over the bridge in question. In 1992, the Cooma Monaro Railway was formed with the aim of establishing a tourist railway. It set about negotiating a lease on the Bombala line from Cooma to Chakola with the

State Rail Authority The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003. History The ''Transport Authorities Ac ...

. In 1994, it purchased three

CPH railmotor The CPH (or 42 foot) rail motors were introduced by the New South Wales Government Railways in 1923 to provide feeder service on country branch lines. Introduction Often referred to as "Tin Hares", having evolved at the same time as the mechanica ...

s 6, 8 and 22 and accompanying trailer CTC55 from the Mountain High Railway,

Tumut Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...

, and restoration at the former locomotive shed at Cooma commenced. After the line and railmotors were refurbished, operations commenced on 5 December 1998. Trains ceased operating in January 2014, with major repairs required to the line. In January 2015, 620/720 class railcars 625/725 and 631/731 were purchased from

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

. FP Paybus FP11 is also in the collection.Rolling Stock
Cooma Monaro Railway

References

{{Reflist, 2 Tourist railways in New South Wales 1992 establishments in Australia Cooma