A volunteer story, over five decades

The Alexandra Timber Tramway & Museum Incorporated ("the ATTM") is an incorporated association. Founded in 1985, it is located in north-central Victoria in the picturesque grounds of the old Alexandra Railway Station precinct. The ATTM has been an accredited tourist railway for the past 30 years. We operate under the Rail Safety National Law Act 2012, under the oversight of the Office of the Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR).

Our particular focus is industrial tramway rolling stock, and over the last 30 years we have accumulated a vast collection. Our collection criteria enable us to recover and preserve items of industrial tramway and logging machinery, with an emphasis on the nearby Rubicon Ranges — for nearly 50 years a centre of logging production. We also feature a large collection of logging and farming machinery of local rural historical significance.

The association was formerly known as the Alexandra & District Historical Society, formed in 1968. With the closure of the Victorian Railways line, the Shire of Alexandra negotiated a lease of a large part of the station grounds at a peppercorn rental for the use of the historical society, whose emphasis was then on the timber industry. Donation of the Rubicon collection of timber technology to the museum brought about the 1985 transformation into the Alexandra Timber Tramway and Museum Incorporated, a non-profit body of volunteers. From 1971 the railway museum had been open to the public on weekends.

When the railways site was taken over it was covered in long grass, bracken and blackberries. Thousands of hours of volunteer work followed. In 1973, 100 trees were planted under the presidency of Mrs Alison Gilmore (née Pearce), a member of a pioneer timber family. The station gardens were replanted and the open spaces sown with grass, maintained by a fleet of mowers. The grounds became home to many native birds and, in time, part of a green belt stretching from the racecourse through the museum and Leckie Park across the town.

The ATTM initiated a master plan covering 20 acres of the former precinct, including a timber mill and loco sheds. Our direct historical link with the Rubicon forest logging industry has been the restoration of the two original diesel locomotives built for the Rubicon-to-Alexandra timber haulage tasks — built by Kelly and Lewis Pty Ltd, Springvale, in 1935 and 1936; the 1935 machine was the first diesel locomotive built in Victoria. A two-foot gauge railway has been built around the station grounds, with regular passenger operation commencing in 1986.

The museum owns or has on permanent loan ten locomotives (two steam, three diesel and five petrol); six are restored and operational, including one steam locomotive. The ATTM's collection includes the largest private collection of Malcolm Moore locomotives in Australia and the only remaining operational Day's timber tramway tractor in Australia. Along with the Climax articulated locomotive owned by Puffing Billy, these represent the most important extant pieces of timber tramway motive power in the state.

The museum collection includes financial records of defunct local timber companies, several hundred photographs and recorded oral histories — invaluable research resources for Peter Evans' book Rails to Rubicon (1994; second edition launched at Alexandra in December 2019).

The Apex Club erected the boundary fence, and a public appeal raised $870 for the J-class locomotive that arrived on static display in 1976. From the sale of property, our John Fowler 2-foot-gauge steam locomotive was purchased at auction in Canberra; she was later hired to the makers of Snowy River 2, and an insurance payout after a road accident helped fund her restoration. The Rotary Club of Alexandra built four replica single-men's huts open to the public, and the Alexandra Lions Club helped with tree removal and the barbecue and picnic area. New outside toilets with disabled access were also constructed by ATTM volunteers.

In the early 1990s ATTM was again under threat of being closed down. Peter Evans asked A Current Affair to visit and do a story — the full interview can be seen on our digital Rails to Rubicon screened every open day in the Parcel Room.

To help with ongoing finances the Alexandra Market was established in 2005. Over 17 years it has been through fires, drought, floods and shifting stall-holder expectations, and runs from September to May each year. The ATTM receives income from heritage train rides, BBQ and coffee stand, and stalls.

Since 2010 the ATTM has been a stakeholder in the development of the Great Victorian Rail Trail. Many visitors arrive on bike, horse or foot. In 2021–2022 there was an extensive upgrade of our educational signage using a grant from Public Record Office Victoria, with QR codes linking to further information online.

To help with grant applications an Alexandra Railway Precinct Master Plan was developed in 2016. This has been developed further into our Business and Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The five-hectare precinct has been looked after by volunteers; in 2020 allocated funds from Murrindindi Shire supported works including painting the railway station, roof, canopy and carpentry repairs.

Today the Alexandra Timber Tramway and Museum is a unique cultural and economic asset for the people of Victoria.