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One group’s labour of locomotive love is turning into a rolling snapshot of Whyalla and surrounding region’s history.
The Whyalla Model Railway Society has added several more metres of track (the equivalent of hundreds of kilometres) to its famous model railway at the Whyalla Maritime Museum. The new section of track represents the line out to the Iron Baron and Iron Duke mining areas.
This latest work was made possible by the support of Genesee & Wyoming Australia Pty Ltd which has sponsored the Whyalla Maritime Museum Model Railway Exhibition for the next three years.
This sponsorship led to the current upgrades and focus on the new rolling stock that reflects the current G&W train activity from the Middleback Range mine sites through to the Whyalla steel works.
The new model railway work includes G&W rolling stock the volunteers were working on and have displayed on the track.
The latest work continues a long project that has transformed the former model train exhibition from an “English countryside” theme to one that is uniquely Whyalla and South Australian, detailing much of the history of the city and surrounding regions.
Upon dismantling the old layout in 2000, it took 4600 hours to build the new layout using, among other things, 200kg of plaster and 1000m of paper rolls before that stage was finished in 2004.
The railway society’s Jim Cochrane said the latest project took six months of dedicated work from their 12-member team of volunteers. The model railway is a remarkable work of craftsmanship with all trains, tracks, structure and scenery created from scratch in the society’s workshop hidden inside the expansive track at the museum.
“We love doing it, we all have a passion for trains,” Jim said.
“This latest part of the track is how the line to Iron Baron and Iron Duke would look and gives people an overall picture of the line and therefore a greater appreciation.
“These train lines were and still are the lifeblood of Whyalla.”
The Whyalla model railway is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere and one of the museum’s major attractions. Along with the new addition, it features replicas of lines between Whyalla and the iron ore mine at Iron Knob, the link between Whyalla and Port Augusta and on to Adelaide.
There is more than 500m of track and 50 relays with iron ore trains, cargo trains, grain trains, the Indian Pacific and The Ghan. It operates with a movement sensor that kicks the trains into action when you walk into exhibition’s room in the museum.
The Whyalla Model Railway Society welcomes enquiries and anyone who would like to join. It meets on Tuesday evenings at 8pm and Sundays from 10am-2pm at the corner of Fisk Street and Fisk Lane. Enquiries can be made to 0439 653 740 or 0455 255 517.
The Whyalla Maritime Museum and train display is open 9am to 5pm every day of the year except for Christmas Day and Good Friday. Enquiries to the museum can be made on 8645 7900 or 1800 088 589. Alternatively, email visitor.centre@whyalla.sa.gov.au or go to the website www.whyalla.com.au
