At their October 22 meeting, Hilltops Council were provided with an update on the status and condition of the train carriage located in Anderson Park, Young and options for further action.
Council decided to: release an Expression of Interest for the purchase of the train carriage and delegate the General Manager to negotiate the necessary arrangements for the sale and removal of the carriage. If no suitable buyer can be found after three months, they will offer the train carriage to a Community Group, Heritage Association, or Not for Profit entity free of charge on the proviso that they remove the carriage without any cost to Council.
The train carriage located adjacent to the Young railway station in Anderson Park has been in place since 1993. Newspaper articles from the period indicate that it was installed in the park in April 1993, with a goal of making it the Cherry Festival Committee Headquarters.
The 28-tonne carriage had been transported from the Hunter region. A history of the carriage, provided by representatives of the Junee Bus Preservation Society, indicates that the carriage was constructed in 1926 by Meadowbank Manufacturing. The carriage designation is “2707”, and it was constructed as a Semi-Saloon sitting car.
In 1950, it was converted to a Full-Corridor sitting car. It underwent a further conversion in 1977 and served as an Interurban sitting car until it was condemned in 1989 and sold to Hunter Valley Railway Trust, and in 1993 it was transported to Young as previously described.
In response to the email from the Junee Bus Preservation Society, they were asked to provide some information on what works would be required for preservation. The Preservation Society could not provide a detailed estimate on the cost of these works, but based on their previous experience indicated that to perform some of the basic structural work would cost more than $15,000.
Full restoration would be greatly higher in cost, and the roof structure, which is the source of a large proportion of the water damage, is not included in this and would require specialist materials and skills if it were to be restored to original standards.
A search for grants that could potentially fund the restoration was undertaken, and this revealed a program run by NSW Government called the Transport Heritage Grants Program, administered by the Royal Australian Historical Society, and preservation of railway carriages would qualify for this grant.
The grant funding is restricted to incorporated associations specifically formed to restore and preserve NSW’s transport heritage; Council would not qualify for this grant.
Council said the Junee Bus Preservation Society could potentially apply for such a grant, but it would normally require it to be the owner of the carriage; however, there is potentially an avenue available where it could receive the grant with Council owning the asset. The grants are issued annually, and the application period runs between June and August.
In 2024, there were eight successful grant applications for this type of preservation work, and the average grant amount was $18,700. Council would still have to source significant other funding for the project.
The carriage has not been used since 2019, and if it were to be restored, a designated purpose would need to be determined beforehand, as Council said this will have a significant impact on the final cost of such a project and the capacity for Council to generate any revenue from the carriage.
For example, if it was to be used for a cafe or similar type function the potential to generate an income stream from a lease is higher but the internal restoration work would need to provide a compliant environment and the costs for this type of work will be much higher than if it was used for a passive function such as a heritage display which would not generate a positive income stream.
Council said the carriage will continue to deteriorate if no action is taken, and the eventual, inevitable result is that it will become a public eye-sore and a risk to public safety.
– Jack Murray
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