Canberra Railway Museum

The Canberra Railway Museum has an extensive display of historic locomotives, passenger carriages, freight vehicles and railway memorabilia.

Location
Geijera Place, at the end of Cunningham Street, in Kingston ACT

Opening times
1pm to 4pm on Sundays and Public Holidays. (Open from 11am on last Sunday of the month, except December)

Cost
Adult $10, child (to year 15) $7, family (2 adults & 2 children) $30, pensioners, seniors or concession card holders $7

Group tours and functions
Weekday group visits are available and can include a tour of the exhibits by an experienced guide as well as a Rail Motor ride– ring our office on    6284 2790 to enquire as to availability and conditions.

The Museum’s barbecue facilities and vintage carriages are ideal for parties for all ages. Our on-train catering facilities can be booked for that cocktail party or function with a difference.
School Group packages are also available – see School Charters page.

Regular Train Rides
On selected Sundays of the month – see Trips and Tours page for details – rail motor rides operate from the Museum to Fyshwick while the nearby Kingston Miniature Railway provides rides through the grounds of the Museum.

Museum exhibits
Canberra Railway Museum contains a variety of exhibits including the railway yard itself (part of extensive rail facilities built in the 1970s), Steam and Diesel locomotives, rail motors, passenger carriages and freight vehicles.

Vintage wooden passenger carriages (over 100 years old), with their open platforms, through to more recent stainless steel passenger cars are housed at the yard. A guided tour is provided so visitors can walk through the public areas to see a selection of this rolling stock at the Museum platform, in the railway yard or in the Society’s restoration workshop.

As the Society is a working railway, the exhibits on display can change if there are trains operating on the day of your visit. However the collection usually includes these exhibits:

Canberra’s most important historical locomotive 1210, built in 1878 and restored to working order in 1988, which hauled the first train into Canberra in 1914.

The beautifully-restored tender locomotive 3016, which started life as a tank engine hauling Sydney suburban trains prior to electrification, is usually stabled at the Museum between trips.

The giant 265 tonne Beyer-Garratt steam locomotive 6029 currently undergoing a major restoration to working order by our skilled volunteers. Visitors are able to view the progress and craftsmanship close up.

You can observe the rudimentary comfort of a ‘dog box’ carriage, and American-style end-platform carriages, which operated in Sydney before the “red rattlers” electric trains replaced them.

Appreciate the craftsmanship of the carriage builders, with the ornate polished timber and metal ceilings of the vintage Pullman carriages.

The kids will be fascinated at the display of sleeping cars, including some from the luxury Southern Aurora train, with their double bunks for that overnight trip before Motels were the way to go.

Get up close to heritage listed diesel locomotive 4403 (originally built for the prestigious interstate express trains) which usually resides at the Museum platform. Climb into the driver’s cab for a first-hand view of how these major trains that rail between capital cities were controlled. Hear from our experience guide just how these machines were driven.

Also on display are the unique 80 year old “Tin Hare” rail motors one of which provided a passenger service to Captain’s Flat for many years. These are regularly used on our Tour trains and also within the Museum for our passenger trips on selected Sundays.

Volunteers
The Canberra Railway Museum is a working rail restoration and maintenance facility, so as you browse among the exhibits, you are most likely to come across a number of Society members undertaking voluntary restoration work on various items of rolling stock – if you are interested in this work, please consider becoming a member – for more details see the volunteering page.