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This sections contains a
number of pictures which illustrate the Museum site. This is an area of land to
the west of Dorrigo station itself, part of the 53 acres owned by the museum. A
portion of this area is being levelled, using the Museum's own resources, to form
the static display area. Eventually, a display building will be erected, in
stages, on this site to keep the majority of the collection under cover and
protected from the weather, as well as allowing comfortable access
to the collection by the public.
These four
photographs were taken in early November, 2001, and indicate, more or less, the
current stage of development of the site. Further earthworks and movements of
the collection are taking place all the time, and, indeed, since these pictures
were taken, an additional diesel locomotive (4822) and three sleeping cars have
been delivered to the site. All the photographs are taken looking more or
less to the North-West, and were taken early in the morning.
 The
first photograph is taken from an elevated position on the south east corner of
the site. The earthworks are progressing to the right, out of the picture, and
will eventually be double their current width. The sidings are numbered 1 to 8,
from left to right. Siding number 8 is still under construction and therefore
not yet straight.
Across the bottom of the
picture, you can see the end of a 40' shipping container which is currently
being used as a workshop. Next to that is the smokebox end of 3813's boiler,
with covers over the various openings to keep the worst of the weather out. Next
to the right is the Centurion tank, covered in protective plastic, and ahead of
that is our fire engine.
The large area in the
centre is kept clear for for the purposes of unloading trucks, indeed, the
Museum's prime mover and tri-axle semi-trailer are in the process of being
unloaded after a round trip to Glenreagh to collect spare parts, tools
etc. The backhoe is positioned behind the truck to provide some of
the "muscle" for this operation.
The
second picture in this series is taken from the same position, but shows more
detail of what is on the site. This picture shows the layout of sidings in
pairs, allowing future public access to each of the sidings, without wasting an
inordinate amount of space. Number 6 road contains diesel and electric
locomotives, with 4420 being closest to the camera. Number 7 road, next across,
contains steam locomotives, with 3813's tender tank nearest. Number 8 road is
currently largely empty, being still under construction, but is already being
used to store the 36 class boiler. In the distance can be seen the 4-car DEB
set, on an isolated portion of track, but in
line with No 8 road, which will be connected as construction progresses.
 This
picture is taken a little more side on to the site. It shows the 36
class boiler in No 8 road, now mounted on freight bogies to allow for easy
movement around the site. Behind it can be seen the line of steam locomotives,
including the tender tank from 3813, followed by steam breakdown crane 1081 and
it's match truck.
 The fourth of these views
is taken from the top of the earthworks embankment, approximately 15 feet above
the levelled area. The strip of dirt in the foreground is
approximately 13 yards wide by 450 yards long, and is currently being excavated
to the same level as the remainder of the site. There are too many exhibits
visible here to list individually, but there are 88 four-wheel freight wagons on
this site, as well as numerous bogie wagons, carriages and railmotors and steam,
diesel and electric locomotives.
All of these vehicles
have been delivered to the site by road transport, using our own equipment,
skills and resources. It is interesting to compare this view with the 1997 view,
below. In the 1997 scene, the two tracks in the foreground are numbers 5 and 6
roads, with number 6 road being the one filled with diesel and electric
locomotives in this view, and the excavations taking place nearest the camera in
the earlier view are where roads 7 and 8 are now positioned.
(*) -
These pictures are large, and may take some time to download
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