John Cowper and Jane Wheaton from the Canberra Railway Museum are testing the waters with diesel railmotor tours. Photo: James Coleman.
It won’t quite be a step back to the era of steam, but Canberra train enthusiasts will have the chance to catch a ride in a pair of heritage railmotors later this month. And they won’t be the last.
The two railmotors, christened Neville and Joan, are currently kept at the Canberra Railway Museum in Kingston but started life in 1964, running passengers around the Sydney and Newcastle CBD areas, as well as on smaller branch lines across NSW.
“The main lines with the double tracks had a lot more traffic, whereas the little regional branch lines are all single tracks and more ideal for smaller trains which can be driven from both ends without having to be turned around,” museum volunteer Neil Smith explains.
When newer, more efficient options came along, many of the diesel railmotors were relegated to rail inspection services across NSW, and four of them wound up in the hands of a private owner in Cooma, abandoned and at the mercy of vandals and the elements.
These were rescued and brought to the Canberra Railway Museum in 2020, where two were sacrificed as donors for the other two.
‘Neville’ and ‘Joan’ ran their first tour in early December last year, and museum staff are now adding the finishing touches and obtaining the final approvals for the ‘Molonglo Valley Explorer’ – three return shuttles between Canberra and Bungendore over the Australia Day weekend.
“As a museum that’s getting back into rail operations, we are kind of testing the market so we know what sells,” secretary Jane Wheaton says.
“These are not steam, but does that mean the public isn’t interested? That’s what we want to find out.”
The museum is still finding its feet after the previous owners declared bankruptcy in 2016. It’s open every Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm (more during the school holidays) and – in partnership with Cowra’s Lachlan Valley Railway and Sydney’s Picnic Train – has held several steam-powered tours over the years.
“The response to steam in Canberra is huge,” Jane adds.
It’s now dipping a toe in the water of diesel because railmotors are much cheaper to run than steam locomotives and don’t require a crew to “fire them up at 3 in the morning”.
Under national law, anyone who wishes to run trains in Australia must first receive accreditation from the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR). At the moment, the museum gets around this by partnering with Lachlan Valley Railway, which runs the railmotors and manages staffing, but Jane says the museum is in the process of gaining their own accreditation.
The 1920s CPH railmotors spent a lot of time around Canberra, commonly on passenger duties between Cooma and Bombala. Photo: James Coleman.
This will be spearheaded by two more diesel railmotors from 1924 and 1927. Both are still in the shed undergoing final restoration but are expected to be on track by the middle of this year.
Jane says they’ll bring back some of the old-school charm.
“They’re pretty much a whole generation earlier than the other railmotors.”
Steam locomotive 3016 is also a work in progress, but it’s hoped it will be pulling joy rides to Bungendore and Tarago within three years.
The Molonglo Valley Explorer tours will be held on Friday, 26 January (Australia Day) and Saturday, 27 January. Tickets will be available on the 123Tix website soon.
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