A big kid at the National Railway Museum

Yes, when it comes down to it, I’m just a big nerdy kid trapped in an adult body. Naturally, when I saw there was a railway museum in Adelaide, the nerd in me had to visit. I’m glad I did as it was fun. On arrival, I was given a map of the sheds and informed that a small train does loops of the museum if I wanted to go for a ride. Naturally, the answer to that was yes. I hesitated for a second, thinking I should wait till a kid or something wanted to go, but the staff were so friendly and encouraging me to take a ride.

Two laps of the museum yards later onboard the mini train, the big kid in me was fully excited to go explore the sheds filled with historic locos. They had heaps more trains here than I expected. Did I read all the info about what they were? No. But I did have fun looking at the massive engines, historic carriages, and lots of train-related paraphernalia.

Other than the massive steam engines, highlights were the bank / butcher / general store carriages that used to serve communities between Adelaide and Kalgoorlie. Some of the most remote places in the world got their meat and supplies, and even could do their banking with the mobile Commonwealth Bank train carriage. Kinda like UberEats but on a train lol.

There is also a cool miniature railway display which was nice - although once you’ve been to Miniatureworld in Hamburg, every model railway you see after is small in comparison. I had a go at driving a train using the simulator. My train driving skills haven’t improved from when I was a kid and used my dad’s train sim game. Full throttle - no brakes! Doubt Metro will be calling me up to become a train driver.

The exhibit on women and the railways was good to see, as was the impressive number of trains and carriages in various stages of restoration. Knowing I had a few other museums to see today, I limited myself to a little over an hour here. I had fun and got some ideas of other railway museums and historic train rides for my next visit.Read more