Bathurst Rail Museum

Bathurst Rail Museum is a heritage and social history museum located at 126 Havannah Street in Bathurst, New South Wales, adjacent to Bathurst Railway Station. Housed in the restored 1916 Railway Institute building, it opened in 2020 and explores the history of railways in Bathurst and the Central West. Notable for its large HO-scale model railway, interactive exhibits and collection documenting railway workers and community life.

Visitors can explore a restored heritage Railway Institute building with permanent exhibitions on the history of railways in Bathurst and the Central West. Expect a large HO-scale model railway layout depicting Bathurst and surrounding districts, interactive displays, historical photographs, objects and stories of railway workers and families, a gift shop and views of the adjacent active Bathurst Railway Station precinct.

Housed in the former Bathurst Railway Institute building constructed in 1916 to provide education and social facilities for railway employees. The museum documents the role of the Main Western railway line, opened to Bathurst in 1876, in the development of Bathurst and the Central West, and preserves the social history of railway workers and their families. Officially opened in February 2020 by Bathurst Regional Council.

Preserves and interprets the railway heritage and social history of Bathurst as a major regional railway centre, highlighting the cultural impact of rail on community life, employment and regional connectivity in New South Wales.