This bizarrely involves destroying a successful not-for-profit
business, 3801 Ltd, and banishing Australia’s
most famous steam locomotive, 3801, to the Rail
Transport Museum,
75km out of Sydney.
If I were transport minister it’s not an achievement I’d
like to be remembered for.
All of this is a convoluted process to get rid of the
locomotive from its Redfern digs, so the Redfern Waterloo Authority can
redevelop the site.
If the minister is fair-dinkum about our rail heritage
perhaps he should announce a plan to resurrect the locomotive the Rail Transport
Museum uses on its
letterhead – 5711.
The 5711 is a big locomotive described by Railcorp as
“being of state significance” and listed as “preserved”,
yet for the past 15 years 5711 has sat uncovered, rusting in pieces, behind the
museum.
RTM president Peter Berriman says 5711 won’t be completed
for another 10 years and then will only be a static exhibit – which means the
museum will have another locomotive which doesn’t go.
In a bit of damage control last week, Railcorp CEO Vince
Graham made a few hazy statements on talkback radio and in a press release
regarding the fate of 3801, throwing around key words such as
“heritage” and “history”, which he presumed would wash with
the public.
But judging by the letters and emails which have been
arriving at The Daily Telegraph expressing concern about Railcorp’s handling of
our state treasure, there is a bigger picture emerging – a clear and vocal
concern as to how our heritage is managed.
So much of Sydney’s heritage has been trashed by successive
governments whose only vision was of a whopping real estate sign – and Sydney’s
unique transport heritage will be lost if our Government doesn’t step up to the
plate.
Mr Watkins was noticeably absent from the argy-bargy of the
3801 fiasco last week. In fairness, the minister should, quite rightly, be
concerned with ensuring the people of NSW have the best rail service possible.
But like it or not, the minister is also charged with
safeguarding what is left of NSW transport history. There’ll be money thrown
around this week for rail heritage but what is needed is passion and vision.
David Hill, when he was CEO of State Rail, had the vision to
rescue the clapped-out 3801 from Thirlmere in the 1980s and put it back on the
rails for the people of NSW.
Mr Graham’s vision is to send the 3801 back to where it was
found.