Lovers of history will soon have the opportunity to board a steam train for a ride through the Central West countryside.
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Transport Heritage NSW’s Great Western Tour will provide one way and return journey opportunities aboard 1930s heritage carriages led by historic steam Locomotive 3642.
Locomotive 3642 is a coal-fired 36 class steam locomotive built in 1926, withdrawn from service in 1969, and now preserved by Transport Heritage NSW.
It will arrive in Bathurst at 4.30pm tomorrow after starting in Westmead at 10.20am.
The locomotive will then go on to Dubbo before returning to Bathurst on the weekend of August 22 and 23, where it will run 90- minute shuttle trips between Bathurst and Wimbledon at 9am, 11.25am, 1.10pm and 3pm each day.
The cost will be $30 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for children (two to 16).
Transport Heritage NSW chief executive Andrew Killingsworth said the tour “will focus on engaging regional communities and schools along the way”.
“Locomotive 3642 was an important development of express passenger power on the NSW railways and worked for much of its career in Central West NSW,” Mr Killingsworth said.
Spokesman David Bennett said Transport Heritage was set up a year-and-a-half ago as a not-for-profit organisation.
Its aim was to get the state-owned heritage transport collection out into the community so people could enjoy it.
“It’s predominantly a voluntary organisation with the trains run and maintained by dedicated volunteers,” Mr Bennett said.
Mr Bennett said Locomotive 3642 spent the latter part of its life based at Bathurst.
He said people will need to make a booking for the journey, rather than turn up and hope to get on.
Transport Heritage is expecting 2500 people to ride on Locomotive 3642 during its western tour.
A complete timetable with stopping locations as well as booking information is available at www.transportheritagensw.com.au/greatwesterntour or by phoning 1300 11 55 99.