Willans Hill Model Railway is located in

Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens, Australia are located in the Wagga Wagga suburb of Turvey Park on a site on the south western slopes of Willans Hill Reserve. Access to the gardens is via Macleay Street near the corner of Lord Baden Powell Drive. ...

in the suburb of

Turvey Park Turvey Park is an inner southern suburb of Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales, Australia. Its boundaries are defined by Fernleigh Road to the south, Glenfield Road to the west, Coleman Street to the north and to the east by Willans Hill. Tu ...

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The railway was established in 1978 by Raymond Catts, who advertised for interested persons to form a club for the display and use of models. It took from 1978 until 1980 to get the numbers to start a Technical Education course in workshop practice which was in fitting and machining, from this course the numbers grew and land was found to establish what is to-day. It is operated by the Wagga Wagga Society of Model Engineers. It includes of a combined and track, two stations, two tunnels, three bridges, four buildings, 6 locomotives owned by the club and a number of personally owned locomotives. An annual Invitational Run has been held every year since 1988 on the first weekend of November. Miniature trains from all over Australia converged here for two days of train running. Traditionally, the Saturday is for club members only and the Sunday event is open for public running. The first 24-hour run, called Railway for Life, was held 15–16 September 2007 in aid of the Cancer Council. There are currently three routes in use. *The main line which is a shorter route that runs within the boundaries of the botanical gardens itself. *The museum line which takes the trains under Lord Baden Powell Drive over to the loop next to Museum of the Riverina car park. *The spiral line which runs around a spiral and then returns via either the museum line or the main line. This principle is embodied in the

Bethungra Spiral The Bethungra Spiral is a heritage-listed rail spiral near Bethungra, between Junee and Cootamundra, carrying the northbound track of the Melbourne → Sydney railway line. It is a listed heritage item, having been added to the New South Wal ...

between Wagga Wagga and

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

on the Main Southern line. The latest addition to the club is the locomotive T387 which was purchased from Adelaide for $28,000. This locomotive had its maiden run on the tracks in October 2018.

External links

{{Commons category, Willans Hill Miniature Railway
Wagga Wagga Society of Model Engineers website

Willans Hill Miniature Railway facebook page
Wagga Wagga Miniature railways in Australia Entertainment venues in New South Wales Tourist attractions in New South Wales