All aboard to support an Illawarra institution

BRENDAN CRABB

THE Illawarra Light Railway Museum needs you.

A proposal to extend the Illawarra Light Railway Museum (ILRMS) at Albion Park has support from a number of organisations, but the museum society is now calling for community assistance to the tune of $25,000.

“It’s where the future of the light rail is going to go,” ILRMS president Brad Johns said.

“It’s where we’ve wanted to go for a long time and we have the support of Tourism Shellharbour, the Albion Park Chamber of Commerce and others.’’

The ILRMS was established in 1972 and aims to provide an exhibition space for light railway locomotives and rolling stock, as well as other related items.

It is a volunteer operation and the ILRMS is planning to extend its narrow-gauge light railway to the precinct of the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) museum. This would provide a tourist link within the transport museum hub around the Illawarra Regional Airport.

Mr Johns said the extension would be particularly valuable at events such as the annual Wings Over Illawarra which is to be held on Sunday, February 28 and Kidsfest Shellharbour which is held annually in May. The extension is planned in two stages, starting from the end of the existing stub of track heading about along 350m a firebreak to the Airside boundary fence of the aerodrome.

The second stage will take the line around the end of the runway to near the HARS complex. Mr Johns said because the council had not completed the airport masterplan, it was unlikely this part of the project would be undertaken for several years.

Therefore, the IRLMS has put together a tentative submission in a bid to secure Federal Government funding for the first stage as part of the Employment Economic Stimulus Package.

“Unfortunately the ILRMS has very little money in the bank because of a massive rise in operating costs to comply with the new demands of the NSW Rail Safety Act, so it cannot contribute a realistic proportion of the extension costs, as would be expected to have any real chance of government assistance,” Mr Johns said.

“We are therefore appealing to our supporters in the region to help us raise the balance of cash required to qualify for government help, or in the event we don’t get that, to go it alone as we have mostly done in the past anyway. That will take quite a bit longer but is still entirely feasible.”

Mr Johns said the ILRMS’ target of $25,000 was “not unrealistic’’

“This is very important to the community,” he said. “Families can come here for free entry and there’s picnic grounds and barbecue areas.’’

All donations are tax deductible. There are several categories of sponsorship available and include a variety of benefits.

Visit www.ilrms.com.au or phone 4256 4627 for more information.