Under an agreement with The Rail Transport
Museum 8 heritage carriages are to be removed on Tuesday 9th January from the
Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh to be maintained and operated from Thirlmere.
Approval was given by The Office of Rail Heritage to RTM to remove these 8
Heritage carriages from a nominated National Heritage Listing site despite The
Office of Rail Heritage being well aware that these carriages form part of the
nomination, they are still determined to dismantle this collection with little
consideration for the outcome.
Where
will the carriages be stored?
FOE organised an inspection of Thirlmere
today, Sunday, 7th January 2007 and there seems to be major problems. There
appears to be little or no space available to even securely store these carriages
and the availability of undercover space at Thirlmere seems to be out of the
question. There are 5 locomotives including 3 still operating and all forming
part of RailCorp Core Collection sitting in the rain and open to the elements.
Included is 3642, the locomotive Marianne Hammerton, Head of The Office of Rail
Heritage 3 months ago had official photographs taken undoing the first nut to
start restoration, yes it’s still sitting in the same place in the weather. The
States No. 1 Railway Heritage Movable Object, Locomotive 3801 fares little
better, being open to the elements along its sides.
The Premier should instruct The Transport
Minister Mr. John Watkins to visit Thirlmere and have a look for himself as he
is ultimately responsible to the people of New South Wales for the safe and secure
storage and maintenance of “Our Heritage Railway Items”. Rubber
stamping and forgetting is not what we want. The NSW Government as custodians
for our rail heritage made these decision on behalf of the people of NSW. Now
they must fix their mistakes.
Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing
these carriages and placing them in a far less favourable environment? Did The
Office of Rail Heritage make this decision?
Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing
heritage carriages from a safe, secure and
enclosed Heritage building where they have
been successfully kept for over 20 years?
Did The Office of Rail Heritage make this
decision?
Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing
these carriages when 3801 Limited has
scheduled their use on upcoming excursions?
Maybe now we are getting closer to the
real answer. Did The Office of Rail Heritage
make this decision and why?
And finally, who is making all the
decisions at or for The Office of Rail Heritage and do they have any formal
heritage qualification relating to restoration and conservation management? Perhaps
they do not know how wind, rain, dust, and even sun exposure effects carriages.
A walk up the back of Thirlmere will show them what happens.
The time has now come for the Premier of
New South Wales to fully investigate who is really running The Office of Rail
Heritage and for whose benefit.