Mr. Premier - This (Rail Heritage) is your responsibility

Under an agreement with The Rail Transport Museum 8 heritage carriages are to be removed on Tuesday 9th January from the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh to be maintained and operated from Thirlmere. Approval was given by The Office of Rail Heritage to RTM to remove these 8 Heritage carriages from a nominated National Heritage Listing site despite The Office of Rail Heritage being well aware that these carriages form part of the nomination, they are still determined to dismantle this collection with little consideration for the outcome.

Where will the carriages be stored?

FOE organised an inspection of Thirlmere today, Sunday, 7th January 2007 and there seems to be major problems. There appears to be little or no space available to even securely store these carriages and the availability of undercover space at Thirlmere seems to be out of the question. There are 5 locomotives including 3 still operating and all forming part of RailCorp Core Collection sitting in the rain and open to the elements. Included is 3642, the locomotive Marianne Hammerton, Head of The Office of Rail Heritage 3 months ago had official photographs taken undoing the first nut to start restoration, yes it's still sitting in the same place in the weather. The States No. 1 Railway Heritage Movable Object, Locomotive 3801 fares little better, being open to the elements along its sides.

The Premier should instruct The Transport Minister Mr. John Watkins to visit Thirlmere and have a look for himself as he is ultimately responsible to the people of New South Wales for the safe and secure storage and maintenance of "Our Heritage Railway Items". Rubber stamping and forgetting is not what we want. The NSW Government as custodians for our rail heritage made these decision on behalf of the people of NSW. Now they must fix their mistakes.

Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing these carriages and placing them in a far less favourable environment? Did The Office of Rail Heritage make this decision?

Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing heritage carriages from a safe, secure and

enclosed Heritage building where they have been successfully kept for over 20 years?

Did The Office of Rail Heritage make this decision?

Why is The Office of Rail Heritage removing these carriages when 3801 Limited has

scheduled their use on upcoming excursions? Maybe now we are getting closer to the

real answer. Did The Office of Rail Heritage make this decision and why?

And finally, who is making all the decisions at or for The Office of Rail Heritage and do they have any formal heritage qualification relating to restoration and conservation management? Perhaps they do not know how wind, rain, dust, and even sun exposure effects carriages. A walk up the back of Thirlmere will show them what happens.

The time has now come for the Premier of New South Wales to fully investigate who is really running The Office of Rail Heritage and for whose benefit.