Relive the romance of the steam era with train rides from Richmond station this weekend.
Organised by Lachlan Valley Railway, the trips start at 9.30am and run to Mulgrave and back at half past the hour until the final run at 3.30pm.
There will be a break for refuelling at 12.30pm.
You can buy tickets at the welcome tent at Richmond Park or online at www.richmondjubilee.com.au or at Bank Bazaar in the old NAB building on Windsor Street.
Steam has a long and glorious history in the Hawkesbury, with residents of Windsor and Richmond petitioning the government as early as 1856 to provide a railway for their district.
The original concept for the Blacktown to Richmond line was to have horse-drawn trains, but the government changed its mind and three tiny 17-tonne engines were purchased new from Manning Wardle and Co.
The line opened in December, 1864.
The light steam locomotives – named Windsor, Richmond and Sydney – worked the Blacktown to Richmond line until 1879.
A lobby group called The Kurrajong Railway League pushed for the extension of the Richmond line to Kurrajong as early as 1884, but the high cost of bridging the flood-prone Hawkesbury River, combined with the limited amount of agricultural land available, delayed construction.
At the time, a coach drawn by two horses ran daily from Richmond Railway Station as far as Kurrajong Heights Post Office. The fare was 2/6 to Wheeny Creek and the trip took 1 hour 15 minutes.
The Richmond Kurrajong Railway cost £110,000 to construct and opened on November 8, 1926. Residents were pleased with the frequency of the service, which provided Kurrajong with seven trains each way on Mondays to Fridays, nine return trips on Saturdays, and five services on Sundays.
The train commissioned to work the Kurrajong line was known as “Pansy”.
Upon leaving Richmond Station, the Pansy crossed East Market Street, cutting across the corner of Richmond Park into March Street, where it headed west between the northern footpath and the roadway.
The line then crossed the Richmond lowlands and made its way out to Kurrajong.
It closed down in July of 1952 after a landslip under the track.
- Information supplied by Hawkesbury Historical Society
