The museum was officially opened in March 2004, after months of work by Nana Lye and a small team of dedicated volunteers. The committee was aware that the Loopline Railway was to be out of operation for a while, and this was seen as a way to keep interest in the Loopline alive.
Many of the exhibits at the museum have been donated by local people,while others are on loan from the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, which is located in the Old Power House adjacent to the Boulder City Station.

The Railway comes to the Goldfields: In the early 1900’s, very few cars were on the Goldfields. During this period,bicycles, horse & carts, and trains were the main means of transportation for families miners and freight. The only alternative means was to walk. The train services consisted of the East-West national line and the Loopline, which covered most areas of Kalgoorlie and Boulder.
The Loopline was opened in 1897 and was originally planned as an ore tramway, however with the Goldfields so busy and more people arriving daily, this railway was their main transport to work.

Tramways: The beginning of the decline of the Loopline began with the first trams on the Goldfields. In early 1903, an electronic tram was brought out from America, despite several years of protest from the public as it felt that the tramway would duplicate the Loopline, therefore making it obsolete. Despite these protests, the trams went ahead, although the plans for the track layout were changed so as to cover different areas of Kalgoorlie and Boulder.
The tram service ran for almost fifty years, before being superseded by the motor car. Today, no tracks remain to show where the trams once ran.

Loopline Beginning: Mine managers fought for a more direct route to their workings, whilst merchants and the people of Boulder felt they deserved priority. In the end the mines won, and in 1897 a line was laid from Golden Gate to Kamballie and on to Lakeview, forming the Inner Loop or Circle to the railway. Kamballie was an important junction, where one of the woodlines branched off to Lakeside, and was once the third largest station on the Boulder section of railway.
The trains carried thousands of miners daily to and from the Boulder mines and lease, each man carrying a change of clothes under one arm, his crib box swinging in his hand.

Woodlines: The loopline linked the wood “tram lines” (rails on which wood was carted on trolleys hauled by horses or small steam engines, or carried by camel teams), and the woodline terminus for shipment.
One of the main freights carried on the railway was timber for underground mine supports, as well as firewood for the various steam engines and water condensers.
At the time, clear felling of wood by the timber companies cut nearly thirty thousand square miles of forest around Kalgoorlie and Boulder..

Tourist Loopline: In 1978 two Western Mining employees, Bryan Smith and Mike Wheeler, railway enthusiasts, decided to have one last run on the Loopline before it disappeared. They used a Wickham Rail Car and a weekend tourist run seemed viable.
In 1982 the Loopline commenced fulltime operations and continued until January 2004 when it was necessary for KCGM to claim the track to expand the Superpit operations.
During this period, the Loopline Tourist Railway operated a variety of ex-WA Government Railways coaching stock and locomotives, including a dining car, purchased from Westrail, which was restored by the Loopline society.

Future Plans :It is now planned to relocate the track from Boulder to Kalgoorlie. KCGM gave the Golden Mile Loopline Railway Society a sizeable donation and is assisting with the change over. How ever, it will take some time before trains will once more be running on the line.

Loopline Railway Museum, Boulder Railway Station
Cnr Burt & Hamilton Streets
Boulder, 6432 Western Australia
Phone/Fax 9093 3055 Mobile 0407 387 883
9.00am - 1.00pm, Monday to Sunday
Adults & Pensioners $2.00, Students $1.00
Train Tours not available

Back to Loopline Tourist Railway

Loopline Tourist Railway
Boulder Railway Station
Hamilton Street
PO Box 2024,
Boulder WA 6432

Phone/Fax: 08-9093 3055

info@loopline.com.au