Railway Museum at Bassendean

04/09/2026

RAILFEST 2026 IS COMING!

Railfest returns to the Railway Museum on Sunday 11 October, and this year we’re doing something we’ve never done before.

For the first time, we’ll be running passenger train rides at the Railway Museum in Bassendean behind steam locomotive Leschenault Lady.

Leschenault Lady is currently visiting Bassendean while some maintenance and repair work is carried out. With components still to come and a little time up our sleeves, we thought it would be a shame not to put her to work while she’s here!

So, for the very first time, she’ll be in steam and hauling passenger trains through the Railway Museum as part of Railfest 2026. Rides on half hour from 10:30am to 12noon (inclusive) and from 1:30pm to 3pm (inclusive).

Throughout the day there’ll be plenty happening around the Museum, including:

🚂 Steam train rides behind Leschenault Lady
🚃 Heritage trains and rollingstock
🎂 Celebrating 75 years of Commonwealth Railways GM1
🚂 Miniature train rides
🛤 Model railway displays
🛍 Railwayana stalls
🌭 Food and drinks

And, of course, the Railway Museum itself will be open to explore, with locomotives, carriages and railway history from across Western Australia and beyond.

RAILFEST 2026
📅 Sunday 11 October
🕙 10am–4pm
📍 The Railway Museum, 136 Railway Parade, Bassendean

Tickets are on sale now through TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/DPKPI

Please note for train rides: children of any age who will be occupying their own seat require a train ride ticket. Children travelling on an adult’s lap do not require a train ride ticket. As services are expected to be very full, only ticketed passengers will be able to occupy a seat.

We’ve got plenty more to show you between now and Railfest, including a closer look at exactly what you’ll be riding in behind Leschenault Lady. 👀

31/08/2026

We welcome Tracks & Timber to the Museum and look forward to sharing this great opportunity with them. Don't miss out on this unique new experience in Bassendean.

Welcome to Tracks & Timber.

After a great deal of planning, polishing, tasting and testing, we’re delighted to finally introduce…

The Stationmaster’s Afternoon Tea.

Step aboard our beautiful 1917 dining carriage at the Railway Museum in Bassendean and settle in for an afternoon tea experience with a difference.

Expect tiered stands, finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones, beautiful sweets, loose-leaf teas and coffee, all served progressively at your table in the surrounds of a genuine heritage railway carriage.

And once afternoon tea is finished, your ticket includes entry to the Railway Museum, so you can spend the rest of your visit exploring one of Western Australia’s most fascinating railway collections.

🎟 $85 per person
🚂 Served aboard our 1917 dining carriage
🍰 A full Stationmaster’s Afternoon Tea
🏛 Railway Museum admission included
📍 Bassendean, Western Australia

Our website is now live and bookings are officially open.

We’ve been working on this for a long time, and we’re incredibly excited to finally welcome you aboard.

👉 Book now: www.tracksandtimber.com.au

We’ll see you in the dining car.

15/08/2026

10/08/2026

Two tours (1.30pm and 3pm) this Sunday 16 August - free with entry to the Museum.

05/08/2026

Sunday 9 August (1pm to 5pm) our stories will be enhanced by the volunteers from Family History WA.

FamilyHistoryWA display at The Railway Museum in Bassendean. The Museum is Western Australia

02/08/2026

EDIT: We are looking at our calendar and volunteer availability to plan for the next Devonshire Tea. Stay tuned. Thank you.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for today's sold out Devonshire Teas in our Commonwealth Railways Dining Car.

It was wonderful to see the carriage filled with great conversation, good food and smiling faces.

And of course a very special thank you to all our volunteers who contribute to make events like this possible.

We hope everyone had a fantastic afternoon at our Museum, and we look forward to welcoming you back soon!

27/07/2026

The Railway Museum at Bassendean could be significantly impacted by proposed changes to WA rail safety legislation.

We support practical improvements to rail safety.

However, the proposed Rail Safety National Law Application Amendment (Rolling Stock Lighting) Bill 2026 could have unintended consequences for heritage railways across Western Australia.

If passed in its current form, the Bill would require heritage locomotives, carriages, wagons, railcars and trams to be fitted with high-intensity side lighting and rotating orange warning beacons whenever they are moved within 1,000 metres of a level crossing.

Our museum is located within 1,000 metres of a public level crossing—even though our museum does not use that crossing.

That means simply repositioning a historic exhibit within the museum precinct could require permanent modifications to irreplaceable heritage vehicles, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The Railway Museum is home to one of Western Australia’s most significant collections of railway heritage. Every year we welcome thousands of visitors and tourists who come to experience these remarkable vehicles as they were built—not fitted with modern equipment that alters their historic appearance.

We believe there is a better way.

Rail Heritage WA, ATHRA and heritage railway organisations across the State support sensible, evidence-based rail safety measures. We also believe heritage operators should be properly consulted so legislation can improve safety without unnecessarily damaging Western Australia’s railway heritage or placing an unsustainable burden on the volunteer organisations that preserve it.

Our history deserves to be protected for future generations.

If you’d like to learn more about the proposed legislation and its impact on heritage railways, please read the information provided by the Association of Tourist & Heritage Rail Australia (ATHRA).

26/07/2026

At the Railway Museum at Bassendean we have a great example of an early small signal cabin that was at Subiaco (replaced in 1923) before going to Carlisle from where it was moved to the Museum in 1972. Inside it has the lever frame from Maddington.
David Edwards, a volunteer who is passionate about historic signalling, explains how the system used to work in this video on our YOUTUBE channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mOItTgNtsA
The museum in open Sunday afternoons between 1pm and 5pm as well as Wednesdays between 1pm and 4pm.

David Edwards from the Signalling Interest Group of Western Austral...

21/07/2026

Working towards making things better for our collection, our visitors and our volunteers.

21/07/2026

You asked for it... We know that RailFest is an event not to be missed for many people, so please save 11 October 2026 in your calendars. We are planning something special this year!