The Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway inc (OTHR) is a volunteer association aiming to reopen the Oberon to Tarana railway line in the

Central Tablelands The Central Tablelands in New South Wales is a geographic area that lies between the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Central Western Slopes and Plains. The Great Dividing Range passes in a north–south direction through the Central Tablelands ...

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, and run heritage trains.

The Line

The

Oberon railway line The Oberon railway line is a short, disused branch railway line on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The line branches from the Main Western line at Tarana railway station and heads in a southerly direction to Oberon railwa ...

is a 24-kilometre disused branch railway, which junctions with the Main Western line at

Tarana ''Tarana'' is a type of composition in Hindustani classical vocal music in which certain words (e.g. "odani", "todani", "tadeem" and "yalali") based on Persian and Arabic phonemes are rendered at a medium (''madhya laya'') or fast (''drut laya'') ...

and heads in a southerly direction to the town of

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

. Opened on 3 October 1923, the line was lightly constructed, and included steep grades (1 in 25 or 4 %) and tight curves. It was operated by lightweight locomotives, mainly 19 class steam locomotives, and then 49 class diesels. It transported local seasonal vegetables, timber and livestock. Passenger services ceased in 1971, and freight services in 1979, with the line effectively closing then.

Rolling stock

In May 2010, end platform carriages CBA850 and HLF854 were acquired on loan from the

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks. Transport He ...

, as well as railmotor CPH13 from the

Canberra Railway Museum The Canberra Railway Museum is located at Kingston in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), next to Canberra railway station on the Bombala railway line. Since May 2018, Canberra Railway Museum has been the trading name of a not-for-profit c ...

. In May 2010, locomotives 7307 and 7321 were purchased from Patrick Portlink.Locomotives
Orana Tarana Heritage Railway

Goals

# to ensure the preservation of the existing rail infrastructure between & including both the junction station at Tarana and the terminus at Oberon # to operate in consultation and co-operation with the local Councils, local landholders and the broader Oberon / Tarana community # to progressively rebuild the line in stages to accommodate light traffic such as Railmotors (possibly a CPH rail motor or others) or by means of a light locomotive and carriages. # in the first stages of development, utilise OTHR volunteers and donated machinery to facilitate reconstruction # to initially focus on the reconstruction of the line and associated infrastructure # to encourage the resumption of commercial use of the line The restoration of the line is being undertaken in three stages. * Stage 1:

to Hazelgrove * Stage 2: Hazelgrove to Carlwood * Stage 3: Carlwood to

References

* {{Railway lines in New South Wales, state=collapsed Railway museums in New South Wales Oberon Council