Exhibition
The Branch Line, 1886 to 1958
When
to
Time
Thursday to Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm
Where
Tarring Room
Price
Free with admission
No booking needed. Free with your museum ticket.
For 72 years a single-track line ran 22 km from Orwick to Tarrow. It carried coal in, rope out, schoolchildren both ways, and on Saturdays in summer a crowd for the river. The last passenger train left in 1958 and the rails were lifted two years later.
This exhibition brings together 48 objects and 60 photographs, most of them given by railway families. You can see the guard’s hand lamp that went home in Frank Harker’s coat, a stationmaster’s ledger that records every parcel for 1911, and a ticket rack with the last day’s tickets still in it.
The walk from the station site to the museum takes 12 minutes along the old track bed, now a footpath. A printed map is free at the front desk if you want to see where the platform stood.
Questions about access for this event? Call (555) 555‑0167 or read the access guide.
Also coming up
Talk
Hemp, Tar and 330 Metres: How the Ropewalk Worked
Lionel Brack started on the walk at 15 and was there when it closed. He explains how raw hemp became a rope, and what the job did to your hands.
2 pm to 3 pm
Hemp Store
$12, members $8 (includes museum entry that day)
Workshop
Hands On: Six Objects from the Store
Handle six objects that are usually in the store, with gloves and a volunteer who knows their stories. Ten places only.
11 am to 12 pm
Counting House (reading room)
Free with admission; 10 places, please book
Tour
Walking the River Frontage
A 2.4 km guided loop along the river from the ropewalk and back, past the old wharf, the ferry steps and the site of Kitto’s Snag.
10 am to 11:30 am
Meet in the Tar Yard
$12, members $8