A glimpse of time gone by – the Guyra Antique Machinery Museum houses some of the oldest farming equipment in our nation’s history.
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And it will be open for all to see at this weekend’s Trout Fest.
Dozens of tourists on a bus tour from Brisbane got a taste of the action on Monday afternoon, with our famous trike carving up the track.
It’s one of only 12 made in Australia and only a few in operation.
“Only 12 were made down at Parramatta and we’ve got three,” Ron Lockyer told The Argus on Monday.
“We’re the only ones in NSW that are allowed to give rides with this set up at this stage.
“None of the others are accredited to do rides.”
Mr Lockyer said there are a few other trikes around the state, including one at Tenterfield.
The museum also houses a piece of the first railway line ever laid in Australia.
A cross section of barlow rail was salvaged in 2005 from a crane base built in 1884 in Guyra.
“It’s very scarce, very hard to come by,” Graeme Healey said.
“They stumbled on it by accident.”
It has wide flaring feet and was designed to be laid direct on the ballast, without requiring sleepers.
Mr Healey said elements of the printing press that made the first Guyra paper also resides at the museum.
“There’s only a few of them in Australia, they are very rare,” he said.
“They took it out of the Guyra newspaper office when they updated it.”
The museum building is the original railway station, which was converted when the trains ceased operating.
Don Williams said at one point the museum was under threat of being knocked down, but they saved it.
“A bulldozer was coming to knock it down and we made an application to convert it to National Trust, so it’s here now to stay,” he said.
“Once we got this one done they did Black Mountain and Ben Lomond.”
The museum will be open this Saturday between 9am and 2pm for the 2017 Guyra Trout Fest.
For more about the festival visit our website.