The Richmond Vale Railway Museum operates a railway and museum located at the heritage-listed

Richmond Main Colliery Richmond Main Colliery is a heritage-listed former coal mine and now open-air museum at South Maitland Coalfields, Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by the staff at J & A Brown's Engineering Workshops at Hexham under the ...

south of

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,044. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, ...

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 ...

. The museum is a volunteer non-profit organization, formed in 1979 with the aim of preserving the

Richmond Vale railway line The Richmond Vale Railway was a colliery railway line in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, servicing coal mines at Minmi, Stockrington, Pelaw Main and Richmond Main. It was over long and passed through three tunnels, and was ...

and the mining heritage of

J & A Brown J & A Brown was an privately owned Australian coal family firm founded by James Brown (1816–1894) and Alexander Brown (1827–1877). Firm's Beginning at Four Mile Creek In 1843 James Brown leased eighty acres at Four Mile Creek, near Ea ...

and the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

History

After the closure of Richmond Main Power Station in 1976, Cessnock City Council acquired the abandoned Richmond Main Colliery together with surrounding the buildings from

Coal & Allied Coal & Allied is an Australia coal mining company. Operating mines in the Hunter Region, it is a subsidiary of Yancoal. History Coal & Allied was formed in 1960 when Caledonian Collieries and J & A Brown & Abermain-Seaham Collieries merged. H ...

. In 1979 the newly formed Richmond Vale Preservation Co-operative Society assumed the responsibility for the railway, leaving the development of Richmond Main Park and Mining Museum to be done independently.

Operations

The museum is opened on the first three Sundays of each month and every Sunday during school holidays, and the site consists of the following features: *Richmond Vale Office *Museum Display *Mining Equipment *Railway Locomotives and Rolling Stock *former passenger line from Richmond Main Colliery to Pelaw Main Colliery Line *Line extension to Weston station (planned)

Preservation

The museum also operates a small number of ex-industrial diesels, and owns a wide variety of ex-

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differe ...

and ex-industrial rollingstock. Ex-industrial diesels are: * BHP 34 - built 1954, A.Goninan & Co (B/N 3/S1003) (Stored-Operational) * BHP 42 (Static- privately owned) * BHP 43 - built 1960, A.Goninan & Co (B/N 3456-10/60-007) (Static) * BHP 53 - built 1963, A.Goninan & Co (B/N 9211-4/64-018) (Operational) * BHP 54 - built 1965, A.Goninan & Co(B/N 3835-12/65-020) (Static) *

DR1 DR1 (DR Et) is the flagship television channel of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). It became Denmark's first television station when it began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day three times a week. Besides its ...

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. Op ...

- built 1954,

Ruston & Hornsby Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow gauge railway, narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of ...

(B/N 3279868) (Static) *

Planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

Number 54 ex

Maritime Services Board The Maritime Services Board was a statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales responsible for marine safety, regulation of commercial and recreational boating and oversight of port operations. History The Maritime Services Board (MSB ...

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

Jetty - Built 1955, F.C. Hibberd (B/N 3715) (Operational) *NSWGR Former steam operated now diesel powered 70T crane No. 1073, converted during use with NSWGR - built 1928,

Cravens Cravens Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited was a railway rolling stock builder in the Darnall district of Sheffield, England. Founded by brothers named Craven and known as Craven Brothers, later Cravens Limited, it remained a family busi ...

(Operational) * X215 - built

Department of Railways New South Wales The Department of Railways New South Wales was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia between 1932 and 1972. Management The Department of Railways was under the control of ...

Chullora Railway Workshops Chullora Railway Workshops were a major workshops for the repair and heavy maintenance of locomotives and rolling stock for the New South Wales Government Railways. It was built on site at Chullora over 485 acres adjoining the main Sydney marshal ...

1968 (static) * X217 - built

1968 (operational) Rail Motor *A 1923

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

motor car was converted in 1937–8 to run on rails and its body was altered to carry more passengers. It was then operated as a passenger carrying vehicle for J & A Brown & Abermain Seaham Collieries company officials throughout the Richmond Vale Railway system until 1949. It subsequently saw service with the

Sydney Tramway Museum The Sydney Tramway Museum (operated by the South Pacific Electric Railway) is Australia's oldest tramway museum and the largest in the southern hemisphere. It is located at Loftus, New South Wales, Loftus in the southern suburbs of Sydney. Hist ...

in the

Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales, just south of Sydney. The national park is about south of the Sydney central business district near the local ...

, from 1964 until 1972 and is now undergoing restoration at Richmond Vale Railway Museum.

2017 Fire

Following a fire on 13 September 2017, the museum was closed, with the following losses.: * 3 stainless steel passenger cars * 10 of 16 restored non-air coal hoppers and almost all non-restored wagons * All of the unrestored general freight vehicles * Approximately 2.5 kilometres of track * Damage to number 1 bridge on the link line to Pelaw Main. The museum reopened to limited rail operation on 4 March 2018 and is gradually restoring damaged track to trafficable condition, with shuttle train services available over restored track. Other elements of the museum's operations remain available on open days as before the fire.

References

{{Railway lines in New South Wales Closed regional railway lines in New South Wales Mining museums in Australia Railway museums in New South Wales Rail transport in the Hunter Region Steam museums Tourist railways in New South Wales