From Rhondda to Dorrigo

A short history of how one of the greatest railway museums in the world got started.
From very humble beginnings in 1973 in the Hunter Valley to the colossus that it is today at Dorrigo.
In 1973 the Hunter Valley Steam Railway and Museum was formed.
It acquired a large collection of railway items, former NSWGR steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, carriages and goods wagons and stored them in the disused Rhondda colliery near Newcastle, New South Wales.
In 1982 the Museum's name was changed to Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum Limited, a company limited by guarantee.
From 1983 to 1984 the collection was progressively moved to a new home at the old Dorrigo railway station and yards, the terminus of the closed Glenreagh to Dorrigo branch line in mid central New South Wales.
Today the Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum Limited is the biggest, greatest steam locomotive museum in Australia and the southern hemisphere