Thirlmere Rail Heritage Centre

Since 1975, the historic town of Thirlmere, located 89 km south-west of Sydney, has been home to a significant rail heritage collection, including over 100 rolling stock items associated with the history of the railways in New South Wales (NSW).

The collection is housed at the NSW Rail Museum on a 5-hectare rail corridor site.

Much of the collection is owned by the NSW Government.

RailCorp, on behalf of the NSW Government, commissioned architects Jackson Teece to design an upgrade of the Thirlmere Rail Heritage Centre.

The Jackson Teece design positioned a new Main Exhibition Hall as the main focus of the upgrade. The new hall provides enclosed space for exhibits that need protection from the elements and has a rail platform alongside for travelling exhibitions of rail rolling stock such as the Southern Aurora.

The new hall is complemented by a series of secondary outdoor and under-cover spaces that can accommodate both small and large displays.

The Jackson Teece design reused a large existing display shed after making it user-friendly and safe for visitors to access. Visitors to this shed will be able to engage with the main body of the Centre’s rolling stock.

In conjunction with exhibition designers HPA, Jackson Teece developed visitor displays that tell stories about the history of the NSW rail system, its technology, and the lives of the people that worked within it.

Platforms with accessible design give visitors the opportunity to get close to and inside many of the locomotives and carriages.

And as you would expect, the Jackson Teece scheme included a raft of sustainable design initiatives too.

For instance, the exhibition hall was naturally ventilated rather than air-conditioned, with an under-floor hydronic heating/cooling system installed to reduce energy consumption.

On hot days, cold water will be pumped through the slab to provide cooler conditions and on colder days the system will reverse to pump hot water through the pipes to take the chill out of the air.

Plus there will be significant re-use of rainwater onsite with the installation of a 100,000 litre tank that will supply water for the flushing of toilets, irrigation, and wash-down.

This much-loved community asset is managed by Transport Heritage NSW which is funded by the NSW Government.

Project Details

Project size – 2,000 m2
Completion date – 2011

Project Team

Architecture

Jackson Teece

Jackson Teece is an award-winning design consultancy with studios in Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane and an expanding client base throughout Asia Pacific. They offer architecture, interior design, urban design, and heritage conservation services.

Since their establishment in 1971, Jackson Teece has acquired extensive experience in the delivery of large-scale, sensitive and complex projects in both public and private sectors.

Their project engagement typically commences at the master plan phase and continues through design development, construction, and delivery.

www.jacksonteece.com

Photography

Sharrin Rees

Sharrin Rees (1952 – 2016) was a pioneer in interior architectural photography, bringing a unique eye for design and detail to every project she worked on. She was revered by her many architectural clients and photography colleagues too.