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    • TheFish posted
    Posted in Preservation and Tourist Railways » Future of Sydney's vintage trains unclear as 3801 tour company evicted

    Regrettably there is not the interest nor the money needed to imitate places like the UK museums and while I have never been to Thirlmere, it was my understanding it was run as best possible by the group.
    Lots of people stand and wave their hands about when they see a Steamer pass but not much else once its past by.
    gordon_s1942

    Yet there is enough interest to make Thirlmere popular?  From what I have seen internationally, with better interpretation comes more interest.  The great thing about a museum like Swindon is that it provides an experience that people not necessarily as interested as we are in railways will enjoy and find informative, an interesting day they can relate to.  As Catchpoint point's out (no pun intended) Didcot is also a good role model, a great example of living history presented in an operational environment.

    I'm a member of Transport Heritage NSW and Thirlmere is run well, but that's not to say it couldn't be better. It has too many exhibits in the great hall to make any of them well interpreted, has too much signage that is only interesting to history and rail enthusiasts and does not adequately tell the stories in an interesting way of the men that actually worked on the trains.  

    The one part of the site that I think has better interpretation is the exhibition building and particularly the theatrette.  

    A small 'discovery centre' as part Eveleigh to go along with the other interesting historical features of the technology park would cost a relatively small amount of money, would generate interest in other sites like Thirlmere, could be a place where tickets for trains are sold and would help educate the next generation.  It is a wonderful location and its potential should be maximised.

    Edit history

    Edited 15 Mar 2017 08:06, 4 years ago, edited by TheFish

    Regrettably there is not the interest nor the money needed to imitate places like the UK museums and while I have never been to Thirlmere, it was my understanding it was run as best possible by the group.
    Lots of people stand and wave their hands about when they see a Steamer pass but not much else once its past by.
    gordon_s1942

    Yet there is enough interest to make Thirlmere popular?  From what I have seen internationally, with better interpretation comes more interest.  The great thing about a museum like Swindon is that it provides an experience that people not necessarily as interested as we are in railways will enjoy and find informative, an interesting day they can relate to.  

    I'm a member of Transport Heritage NSW and Thirlmere is run well, but that's not to say it couldn't be better. It has too many exhibits in the great hall to make any of them well interpreted, has too much signage that is only interesting to history and rail enthusiasts and does not adequately tell the stories in an interesting way of the men that actually worked on the trains.  

    The one part of the site that I think has better interpretation is the exhibition building and particularly the theatrette.  

    A small 'discovery centre' as part Eveleigh to go along with the other interesting historical features of the technology park would cost a relatively small amount of money, would generate interest in other sites like Thirlmere, could be a place where tickets for trains are sold and would help educate the next generation.  It is a wonderful location and its potential should be maximised.