Muttama – 140 years after opening of Railway
Muttama recently held a small celebration of the opening of the railway through their village.
Muttama is located on the former branch line between Cootamundra and Gundagai – opened in 1886. Muttama hosted a small station building, goods shed, stock siding. The line from Gundagai was later extended across the Murrumbidgee River, to Tumut, and Batlow. Trains on the branch were quite frequent, but alas, the last train ran in 1984.
As Muttama was just over an hour from Junee, the celebration seemed a good excuse to explore a section of railway line that was off my normal travel routes.
Getting there.
As the “Back Brawlin” gravel road from Cootamundra to Brawlin followed the railway alignment, it seemed a good choice. A lot of the line had been pulled up, which is a “no-no”, as the line has not officially been closed despite the absence of trains for over 40 years. At Brawlin the gatekeeper cottage was still standing, and occupied
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| In the distance, looking along the line back towards Cootamundra, the loading bank platform at Brawlin could be made out. |
From Brawlin, the road rejoins the main Cootamundra-Coolac road, which we took to Muttama.
Muttama
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| The Muttama Hall contained the part of the display. The other displays extended to the other side of the road. Pizza, coffee, and steak/sausage sandwich vans in the nearby yard |
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| Across the road, a small country fete/market stalls to tempt the tastebuds further |
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| Cootamundra & District Machinery Restoration Society members had a lovely display. |
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| Various designs and colours of lineside insulators was most interesting. |
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| Brian Flanagan’s display of brass taps and fittings |
And on the back of the ute, was a working steam engine
Further on, the Wagga Wagga Model Engineering Society had a display of large scale railway models
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| CPH #8, 7.25″ gauge |
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Moving these engines requires special equipment. The uneven ground was providing more of a challenge
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| 5701 – 5″ gauge was in steam . The rolling road allowed one to see the motion close up |
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| Gresley conjugating gear |
Below is a short video of the gear in motion
The model train layouts
Five small layouts, and a large amount of photographs, data, and newspaper clippings were on display in the Muttama Hall. For a modest $2 entry fee, it represents good value.
Muttama – By Peter Beyer
Peter’s layout was effectively a diorama in motion of the former Muttama station environment. It was great to see this layout again, but special to be exhibited in the actual Muttama village.
Coolac – by Peter Lawson
Coolac is the next station on the line from Muttama, heading towards Gundagai. I knew Coolac quite well over the years, as I passed through Coolac frequently before the Hume Hwy was diverted.
(Any excuse to put some of my pictures)
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| CPH #6 approaches Coolac in the early 1980s drought. My picture converted from slide |
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| CPH #6 about to depart Coolac heading towards Cootamundra. Hume Hwy is visible on the LHS, and the level crossing is well off in the distance. My picture. |
Coolac was a new layout for me. Andrew has captured the main elements- station, signalbox, goods shed, and stockyards.
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| A visitor from Sodor makes an appearance |
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| A scene that mimicks the photo I took in the early 1980s. The CPH is pointing the right way |
Wattamondra – by Robbie Crouch
Wattamondra is a small station north of Demondrille, on the cross country line to Cowra, and Blayney. The backscene is particularly effective.
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| The layout as I first saw it at the recent RPM meet in Sydney
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I photographed this layout recently
https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2026/04/sydney-rpm-2026.html
Here are some extra pictures
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| The access to the oval and fiddleyard is through a hole in the backscene. The hole is generally hidden from view of the public by the silos. |
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| View of the silo as seen through the access hole. |
Other layouts
Ladysmith displayed by Mark Pottie. Mark is part of the small group of volunteers “Ladysmith Tourist Railway” who has restored the station at Ladysmith, near Wagga. They run monthly Trike trips for the public on a small section of the original Tumbarumba railway line. Mark also had a large photo display, and some small railway perway vehicles outside.
Jindalee displayed by the Beyer family. Jindalee is a locality north of Cootamundra on the main line. The N scale layout was built quickly, and cheaply a few years ago, to fill a gap in an exhibition.
Summary.
The Muttama celebration was a great day out. Not only was I able to see some great large scale modelling (the 57 class was a standout), it was good to catch up with Peter, Robbie, Mark, and Gary on the layouts. And besides the date loaf, onion jam, and plum sauce bought at the fete, I also came back with appreciation of the line between Coolac, and Cootamundra, AND a special piece of artwork for the wall..
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| “Gundagai” – ‘Goldenfields Laser Cutting and Engraving’ of Muttama had this, and other images for sale $45. These images has been laser cut onto wooden boards from original photographs. Very tactile |
Until next time, build a model or two.
