IT WAS all board with at least a thousand people visiting the South Maitland Railways yard for its open weekend.
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The open weekend marked 100 year since Hebburn Ltd and the East Greta Coal Mining Co merged to form South Maitland Railways, and 125 years since the first running of a train on the lines.
Manager Warren Hedley said there had been a steady stream of people over the weekend for the celebration activities.
“Everyone has enjoyed themselves. The people who have attended have found it interesting,” he said.
“We’d also like to thank everyone who has assisted over the weekend.”
People were able to ride the historic No.18 steam locomotive and carriages between Maitland City Council Rally Ground and East Greta Junction, and explore the cab of the 107-year-old No.10 steam locomotive.
There were also retired drivers who shared a few stories from the locomotives heydays, and the new Maitland Rail Museum was open for business.
“We’ve had some locomotives open for people to walk through and various railway machinery for people to look at,” he said.
The local railway was one of the last rail networks in Australia to continue to utilise steam locomotives until they were replaced in 1983 by diesel-electric trains.
Proceeds from the event will go to the continued repair and running of locomotives, which are currently owned by the Hunter Valley Training Company.
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