The museum has just celebrated its first year of operation, which included a period of closure during the pandemic.

READ MORE: Bathurst Rail Museum first anniversary party | Photos, pictures

Bathurst Regional Council's director of Cultural and Community Services, Alan Cattermole, said in a recent report that it had been a positive first year.

In the twelve months since opening, 32,032 individuals have visited the museum.

This is consistent with what is seen at other museums across Bathurst.

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The highest single-day entry was on December 29, which saw 479 visitors walk through the door; this was bracketed by two would-be record attendance days of 341 and 406.

On average, the museum sees 125 people per day, although the number fluctuates depending on the time of year.

The majority of the visitors, 55 per cent, have been locals.

Councillor Jacqui Rudge said the first year had been "a complete success".

"I'd like to congratulate the director and his staff for the first year of operation for the Bathurst Rail Museum, it's been a complete success," she said.

She said that the rail museum is one of a number of cultural facilities in Bathurst, which are increasing the variety of attractions for locals beyond the obvious icon of Mount Panorama.

"I really think we need to stop and have a think about what we would have here in Bathurst if we didn't have these facilities and I'd like to congratulate the director and his staff for what you do in relation to all of these facilities and how you run them," Cr Rudge said.

"We've got some wonderful staff that facilitate these things and the feedback from the visitors that we receive is all very good."

Deputy mayor Ian North echoed her comments, saying that visitors were seeing Bathurst as a destination and the rail museum was a contributor to that.

"Have a look at the figures during July and October in school holidays when we were pretty much still right in COVID; we were a destination they were looking at, we were a destination they saw that we were keeping our doors open and being COVID-safe," he said.

Council plans to build on the success of the first year of the rail museum with new events over the next year.

This includes a weekend of vintage rail motor train trips in early April to celebrate the 145th Anniversary of the railway opening to Bathurst, and a visit to the Central West by the famous steam locomotive 3801 in June.

There are also plans to increase educational visits this year.

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