Last Thursday and Friday there were scenes of great excitement at Oberon station as not one, but two, beautifully restored passenger carriages were delivered by road.
These two carriages have been almost completely restored and are in fine condition – they just require a clean and some minor repairs before they are fit to use on the line for carrying fare-paying passengers.
The Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway (OTHR) has acquired these carriages on loan from the Rail Transport Museum and they represent the first units of a complete passenger-carrying tourist train which will be operating out of Oberon Station.
Many OTHR workers and friends were on hand to witness this exciting event, which goes a long way to rewarding all our hard-working fettlers and supporters in the Oberon district and beyond.
The operation of unloading the carriages from the low-loader road transport went very smoothly, to the relief of all OTHR members present.
The two carriages have now been coupled together as they will operate on the train. The carriages are end-platform carriages, with first and second class areas and two toilets at the centre of each carriage.
They first entered service in 1897 and were then fitted with gas lighting. Electric light was fitted in about 1930. They last saw service on the Illawarra line in 1977.
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