Junee Roundhouse Museum

The Junee Roundhouse is one of just a few surviving, working, railway Roundhouses in the Southern Hemisphere. It is unique in Australia because of its size, being fully circular and having a long, ‘100 foot’, turntable. While the Museum is part of the Roundhouse, the other part, including the turntable, is still used as a diesel locomotive servicing facility by Junee Railway Workshop.

The Roundhouse was opened in 1947, becoming the last steam locomotive depot built for New South Wales Railways. It has also serviced diesel locomotives for many years. It was closed in 1993 and established as a museum by Junee people soon after.

Among the exhibits in the Roundhouse Museum are several locomotives – steam as well as diesel – passenger carriages including a sleeping car, a rail motor and a mail van where letters were sorted as the train travelled between Sydney and country stations.

Alongside the other historical items, the Roundhouse is home to the only workable steam driven accident crane in New South Wales. Of a number built in America in the early 1940’s, five were brought to Australia by the US Army. At the end of the war, the NSW Government Railways purchased two for railway use. Because the others were surplus to requirements, they were loaded onto an aircraft carrier to be shipped back to the USA. These, however, were lost at sea outside Sydney Heads.

The Museum also has on display a collection historical railway equipment, photos, documents, and a large working model railway.

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