Milang Railway Museum in Milang, South Australia | Community museum

Milang Railway Museum

Locality: Milang, South Australia

Phone: +61 414 232 060

Address: Daranda Tce 5256 Milang, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.milangrailway.org.au

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• Landmark & historical place
• Landmark
• Community museum

25.01.2022 Last Thursday, while the anniversary was celebrated in Milang, James Leigh and others were marking the occasion at the other end of the line. They posted a copy of the act in the phone box at Sandergrove junction where the Milang branch left the main line to Goolwa. Through the doorway in the first photo you can see the Goolwa line and, to the left, the earthworks of the Milang branch. The second and third photos compare today with fifty years ago. Please note that Sandergrove is not a part of the Nurragi Conservation Reserve, but an active railway, and trespassing upon the rail reserve is illegal under the rail safety act.

24.01.2022 After Christmas we are hoping to offer free train rides every Sunday. To do that we need four drivers and currently have two more in training. One of them is Norma, our first female driver

22.01.2022 As a result of today's news, the Museum will be open on Sunday from 12 to 4. We will be limited to 470 visitors at a time (In our dreams - we rarely have more than ten visitors at a time). However we need to space out at one person per four square metres so that means no more than two visitors at a time in the guards van and the SAR 351 cab.

22.01.2022 Nuggett's Trail was opened yesterday with a substantial crowd in attendance. Thanks to those who came. Nuggett was the horse who used to work the tramway from the Milang town to the jetty. The ten storyboards telling the history of the surroundings are now in place on what is now a very pleasant 400m walk. Mike Connell brought his Clydesdale to re-enact Nuggett's route. By the way, someone left a pair of glasses in a blue case in the SAR 351 locomotive.

21.01.2022 We found some toys left behind in the train as shown in the attached photo. If they belong to you and you are local then please come and pick them up at the weekend. If you live further away then we can post them to you.

21.01.2022 We had another group visit today. They were a bunch of friends from an Encounter Bay retirement village and they had a ball. They toured the museum, had a train ride on the Milang Flyer and drove the diesel and steam loco simulators. In the middle of all that they enjoyed our $15 home cooked lunch. Today's menu was roast beef or honey cooked chicken with three veg and followed by fruit pie and icecream or cream and tea or coffee. To enquire about group visits call Peter Lucas on 0414 232 060.

21.01.2022 The forecast high for Milang today is 29 so the museum will be open as usual. Sunday is a pleasant 20 degrees so Devonshire Teas and free train rides will be available as usual. The attached photo shows the goods yard and the station in 1964. It was taken by Weston Langford who must have climbed a tree. Note that there is only one yard crane showing. Two cranes were installed when the railway opened in 1884 but the one nearest the road was removed in the thirties. When the museum opened, the volunteers found an identical crane and re-installed it in the original position in the mid nineties. Hence you see both cranes today.

19.01.2022 The volunteers are making good progress with the Fowler restoration. See attached photo. The smokebox door has been closed and clamped, the missing piston rods replaced, the boiler inspection port covered, sundry holes filled in and rust removal and painting has started.

18.01.2022 Thanks to the many people who visited us on the long weekend. We are sorry we were unable to offer the train rides. The loco batteries were due to arrive in Adelaide today so we have our fingers crossed for next Sunday and will update our web site and this page as soon as we have definite news. Amongst our visitors was Nigel Bruce who was an SAR station master. He found his signature all over the attendance record book which came from South Brighton station.

17.01.2022 With the repainting of our rolling stock nearing completion, we would like to add the lettering/numbering which was on them in SAR days. The SAR SE3 explosives van shown in the photo has proved to be a bit of a mystery. Originally built by the South Australian Railways at the Islington Workshops in 1969, as a 'bogie exchange' explosives van. It was primarily used to carry explosives traffic between Dry Creek and Broken Hill. Does anyone have a photo of the van in SAR days so that we can see what lettering/numbering needs to be added?

17.01.2022 Just a reminder that the "Nuggett's Trail" walking trail is opening tomorrow (Sunday) at 2pm. A Clydesdale horse will be there to lead us down the trail from the weighbridge on Daranda Terrace. The station will be open for Devonshire Teas and refreshments. Free rides on the munitions railway will be running and the driver, Neville, will be really keen to show you the fruits of his labours (with much cursing and swearing) this week.

16.01.2022 Up until 1936, a horse named Nuggett and his driver, Reuben Coppins worked the tramway from the Milang jetty up to the station. That tramway is long gone and the Railway Museum has now established a walking trail along the 400m tramway route. We are erecting ten storyboards along the route which tell the history of Milang. The walking trail will be opened at 2pm on Sunday 30th May in a short ceremony at the weighbridge on Daranda Terrace. We will then follow a Clydesdale horse down to the jetty. This is a SA History Festival event. Come and join us. The museum, Devonshire Teas and the free train rides will also be available.

16.01.2022 The museum will not be open this weekend due to the lockdown. In the meantime we have another story about the last Milang branch driver, Arthur Creeper. Last month we had a visitor who was a regular passenger on the railcar. Usually he was the only passenger but on one occasion there was an attractive young lady making the trip. Naturally he started a conversation with her but, to his surprise, he was joined by Arthur who had put a brick on the controls so that the railcar was driving itself to Strathalbyn.

12.01.2022 Many people assume that the Milang station has been in its present location since the railway closed in 1970. That is not so. After closure the track was removed, the platform was demolished and the station building was sold to a local farmer for use as an outbuilding. However he was unable to get council approval for its use for accommodation so it sat in two local paddocks for twenty years. Then, on 18th May 1991, it was moved on a truck back to its previous location where the volunteers had built new foundations. In one of the attached photos you can see what is now the cafeteria car in the background; its arrival was the first step in the creation of the Milang Railway Museum.

11.01.2022 Arthur Creeper was the regular driver on the Milang branch line during the last decade of operation. Has was an interesting character. We already have some interesting stories about him and are looking for more. The first photo shows Arthur leaning out of the Barwell Bull railcar probably at Sandergrove. He always took his dog with him as shown in the second photo at Nurragi where the dog is sitting on the dashboard in the centre window. They would arrive at Milang, go fishing for two hours, reverse the railcar on the turntable and depart Milang. Near Nurragi, Arthur would stop the train and the pasengers had to wait while he checked his rabbit traps for his evening meal.

09.01.2022 Last week we thought that the Ruston Diesel had a problem because the oil pressure was showing zero. We got the (original) pressure gauge checked by an expert and it was fine. Eventually determined that the problem was a blocked pipe to the gauge. It was cleaned out this morning and the Ruston then got some exercise down the track.

06.01.2022 Thank you Paul from End of the Line Hobbies who sent us a photo of our explosives van in SAR days. Our van now has the appropriate signage. One of our volunteers wondered what would happen if we had a fire and the CFS arrived and saw the sign!!

05.01.2022 The Milang train runs again! The battery box with the new batteries arrived today and was installed on the loco. As a result, free train rides will be available this Sunday from noon to 4pm with Neville driving. The batteries came equipped with modern charge state and water level indicators plus an integrated water top up system. Let's hope they last the 23 years of their predecessors. Thanks again to those who donated funds towards the battery purchase. Your names will be displayed on the loco.

05.01.2022 Fifty years ago yesterday the Governor of South Australia signed a bill which formally closed the Milang branch line forever. The Milang Historical Society marked the occasion with the unveiling of a plaque at the bottom of Stirling street where the Nurragi walking trail starts. The line to Sandergrove and Strathalbyn used to pass through this very spot.

01.01.2022 Senior citizen groups coming to the museum for lunch or Devonshire Teas will now be more comfortable. The ex-classroom chairs in the Cafeteria Car have been replaced with comfortable new seats thanks to a grant of $4800 organised by Rebekah Sharkie MP and her team.