Railpage Australia™ - Richmond Vale Railway and Mining Museum Theft totaling over $245 000

It would have taken an “army of thieves” to steal about $245,000 worth of heavy equipment from Richmond Vale Railway Museum this month.

The stolen items included 25 rare electric motors valued at $50,000, five large compressors worth $60,000, a locomotive radiator worth $30,000, 24 lathe gears worth $25,000, 24 spokes of a mining wheel valued at $60,000 and several tonnes of steel worth $20,000.

A volunteer since he was 16, Philip Johnston, said there was a feeling of disbelief among museum volunteers who had poured their passion into sourcing spares and maintaining machinery and equipment at the popular tourist destination set up in 1979.

“The size of what has gone missing, and the rarity of it, it was all fairly unique,not something you buy off the shelf,”Mr. Johnston, an industrial blacksmith of Seahampton, said.

“The only value it has to anyone else is to be sold as scrap.”
Mr. Johnston, who operates a workshop at the Leggett’s Drive site, said the theft had been well planned.

“It would have taken an army, at least five or six people, to move it,” he said.
The missing air compressors weigh between three-quarters and one tonne.
“We are assuming the thieves loaded the equipment on to 4WDs, drove through the bush then moved in onto trucks to take it away.

Maitland police said it would have taken several trips to remove the equipment.
Mr. Johnston said the machinery would have no use outside the museum site.A caretaker had been living on site in a caravan until four or five months ago.

“I have been volunteering at Richmond Vale since I was 16 and talking to the other volunteers who have transported spares to the museum from BHP, they have offered up their time, effort and fuel over many years.

“They are all feeling despondent.”

Mr.Johnston said an alert scrap metal dealer may spot the equipment and this might be a chance to get it back.

“A few years ago there was a theft and the items turned up in Victoria and we got them back,” he said.
“This won’t affect us operationally but the museum will need those spares in the coming years and it is disappointing not to have them.”
Police said the theft happened between Sunday, August 9, and Sunday, August 16.

Maitland police asked anyone with information to contact

Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.