A HOME FOR 3801

3801 will have a home:

Public access to 3801 will be improved between operations - a special visitor facility at the Thirlmere Railway Museum will showcase the locomotive and its story.

3801's existing depot is slated for closure as part of Sydney's Eveleigh redevelopment - the locomotive needs a new home. A significant part of State Rail's moveable heritage collection is currently based in Sydney's Eveleigh precinct, either in the Heritage Store (North Eveleigh) or the Large Erecting Shop. RailCorp have advised that the vesting of the site to the Redfern Waterloo Authority means that State Rail's heritage assets, including locomotive 3801 and some carriages (and the Powerhouse Museum's steam locomotives) need to be re-housed elsewhere, starting in the next few years. The NSWRTM recognises the inevitability of the proposed Redfern-Waterloo urban renewal project, and its impact on an inner-city steam locomotive operating base.

The existing wide community exposure for 3801 can be maintained by the NSWRTM with judicious operation and without the necessity of the current additional operating base at Eveleigh.

Steam operations from the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh appear to be no longer viable given the building’s environmental and structural issues and the Redfern – Waterloo re-development. Neither 3801 Limited nor the NSWRTM can fund the buildings repairs.

The Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh has for some time been essentially a single-user facility, unavailable for general heritage train useage by operators other than 3801 Limited. NSWRTM already operates, services and stores steam locomotives in Sydney without using the Large Erecting Shop.

There is no current indication that the Large Erecting Shop will be demolished – a more viable and sympathetic adaptive reuse may be found for the site. Organisations specialising in built heritage, such as the National Trust, are best placed to consider the Eveleigh heritage issues.

The NSWRTM's operations, and steam operations generally, are not reliant on the Eveleigh workshops; steam trains (including 3801) have operated from NSWRTM's Thirlmere site for over 30 years.

Approximate times for transfer of Locomotive 3801 - East Greta to Thirlmere - on Wednesday, December 20 3801 in steam, running as a light locomotive: Depart East Greta Junction (HVTC) 1100 hours turn via Maitland / Telarah / Farley triangle then Maitland depart 1143 pass Broadmeadow 1212 Fassifern 1235 Morisset 1252 Wyong 1312 Gosford 1330 / 1353 (water) Hawkesbury River 1416 Cowan 1430 Hornsby 1454 West Ryde 1512 / 1522 Flemington Markets 1536 Chullora Junctions 1544 Sefton Park Junctions 1600 Liverpool 1615 Campbelltown 1639 Picton 1710 / 1725 Arrive Thirlmere 1750 hours. Important note: u these approximate times are subject to variation due to the short notice movement – up-to-date times will not be posted here, nor provided by RTM’s offices by any means, including phone or email u photographers must not encroach on the rail corridor nor enter the HVTC private property at East Greta u after-hours access to the Thirlmere Museum site on the day, after the arrival of the locomotive, will only be available for a short period in the loco shed area (via the loco shed gate), and ONLY to card-carrying RTM members.