Willans Hill Model Railway is located in Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens in the suburb of Turvey Park in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.
The railway was established in 1982. It is operated by the Wagga Wagga Society of Model Engineers. It includes 2 kilometres of track, two stations, several buildings, bridges, tunnels and a number of locomotives owned by the club or individual members.
The railway is open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Each ride is A$2.00. Covered footwear is essential for rides. Opening times 10.30am to 4.30pm with a lunch break between 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
An annual Invitational Run happens on the 1st weekend of November. Miniature trains from all over Australia converge here for two days of train running. Traditionally, the Saturday is for club members only and the Sunday event is open to the public.
The first 24 hour run, called Railway for Life, was held 15-16 September 2007 in aid of the Cancer Council.
There are currently two routes in use. The main line which is a shorter route that runs within the boundaries of the botanical gardens itself and the museum line which takes the trains under Lord Baden Powell Drive over to the loop next to Museum of the Riverina car park. Proposed extension to the main line includes a spiral.
A new addition to the club is a member locomotive, Blue Ridge, which was purchased from the USA at the cost of A$40,000. This locomotive had its maiden run on the tracks in July 2012.
Famous quotes containing the words hill, miniature and/or railway:
“Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of the Law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“This is a strange little complacent country, in many ways a U.S.A. in miniature but of course nearer the center of disturbance!”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)