Mayor Graeme Hanger said approximately 180 people attended over the course of Saturday, a very pleasing result for Bathurst Regional Council.

He said the aim of the day was to allow the museum's content creators, Freeman Ryan Design, the opportunity to meet with members of the community “to expand the scope of material available for inclusion in the museum”.

The response was fantastic.

“The 'stories table' was busy during the whole event, with often four to five people patiently waiting their turn,” Cr Hanger said. 

“A number of  very interesting artifacts were highlighted on the day which has helped expand other stories already collected.”

The information provided by the community will prove helpful in the development of the museum.

“There were a wide variety of stories gathered on the day; some of them filled in some missing details and others corroborated those already collected,” Cr Hanger said.  “As one of the focus points of Bathurst Rail Museum is the people connected to the railways this information will be part of the wider interpretative content display.”

Plans for the museum were approved in May.

Information in the development application (DA) shows the museum project will contribute $6.9 million in benefits to the economy in the next 20 years, while its cost will be $3.87m during the same time period.

Council hopes to open the museum in December, 2019.