Rolling stock stored at the Broadmeadow locomotive depot has been offered to heritage train operators as the state government ramps up its plans to empty the heritage-listed railway site.
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Transport Heritage NSW, the not-for-profit organisation which manages heritage rail assets owned by the government, recently held an expression of interest process offering "custodianship" of various rolling stock items.
A Transport Heritage document obtained by the Newcastle Herald shows 17 items, mainly train carriages in poor condition, were available.
The government has been planning to relocate all of the rolling stock at Broadmeadow to a site at Chullora in Sydney where it is establishing a heritage rail hub.
Transport for NSW said in August that the "bulk" of 70-plus railway items would be moved early next year.
A Transport Heritage spokesman said the EOI process had concluded and the applications were now being assessed. He said any loans were subject to final approval by Transport for NSW's independent funding and advisory panel.
"In relocating items to the new Chullora Heritage Hub, it is an ideal time to consider whether items can be used by other groups in operation or for public display at other locations in NSW," the spokesman said, adding heritage transport groups and museums could apply for the loan of items "at any time".
The depot has been abandoned since it shut in 1994. Most of the rolling stock at the site is out in the open air and one reason for moving the items to Chullora is that they will be undercover.
Newcastle council voted in October to oppose the removal of "22 items considered to be of particular relevance to the rail heritage of Newcastle and the Hunter".
It also called for "some" items to be "incorporated into the heritage interpretation of the former use of the site" if and when the government redevelops the broader 18-hectare parcel of land.
Hunter-based heritage rail enthusiasts have called for a working party to be established to help reactivate the depot for railway activities and potentially other uses.
The site is earmarked in the state's Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Plan for "medium-density housing and business uses which do not impact on heritage values".
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