When your husband loves trains and you stop by a train museum, obviously you have to go in. Of course, I make the usual wifely fuss and moan, like 'do we REALLY have to go on' but it's worth it to see the 10 year old boy come out in Jamie. Steam trains just really make him happy.

Whilst we have been to Devonport before, we haven't really explored it, but this time we had two days to kill. We enjoyed the Don River area and The Don River Railway was of course pretty cool for train people and history buffs. It's a volunteer-operated heritage railway and museum established in 1973, and it railway operates on a restored 3.5 km section of track along the scenic Don River. This track was originally constructed in 1916 to transport limestone. The site features a museum and workshop and a decent if not extensive collection of heritage locomotives and carriages, restored by volunteers.

Unfortunately, you can only ride the Don Head train from Thurs to Sunday, and as it was Wednesday, that was a little disappointing. But Jamie had fun looking around the trains. It would have been fun to take the 30-minute return journey from Don to Coles Beach, traveling in those lovely vintage carriages hauled by historic steam or diesel. Nevermind. It saved us $17 each I guess.

It was close to closing so there wasn't anyone around to talk to and I was already begrudgingly spending $10 entry to see something I could have seen over the fence but sometimes in a marriage you have to swallow this stuff to make the other happy, and besides, I did learn a little history which I always enjoy.

It's the social history I like the best, imagining the lives of people who worked and travelled on the trains. Some of the old trains there were essential to the states development. They hauled limestone from quarries to processing plants or ports, played a role in agriculture, transporting goods like timber, produce, and livestock to markets. The passenger trains connected rural communities, taking on board workers, families, and tourists in the early 20th century, as well as the mail. I could imagine the trains rattling along in the snow down south.

I also loved the old carriages as I always do, imagining one plomped on a bit of land to be made into a tiny home. There's some lovely features in the old trains like the parcel ra ks and the leather straps used as the door hinges. Jamie told me the phone boxes in England used to have leather straps and consequently always smelled of urine and leather which was an evocative image I didn't need.

Whilst this train below didn't have the wooden lining or the quainter features of the earlier models it did have nice high ceilings so it might be my choice to steal and make into a tiny home. Jamie asked me to stop doing DIY in my head as I divided the carriages into bedrooms, living areas and kitchens after stripping the seats and putting into a nice recycled wooden floor. Some of the windows would have to be blocked off for better insulation of course. And where would I put the wood burner? And I may need a second carriage for a bathroom too with a big claw foot bath and lots of plants, as it'd be like a hothouse as well.

I thought the signal building was pretty cool too. Apart from being a good lookout post for a zombie apocalypse settlement behind the fences (remember the carriages would house the survivors pretty well). It amazes me that this old tech could organize massive hunks of metal. Whilst we have all the tech now to make the operation of the transport system apparently more streamlined , and of course electric, and faster, sometimes I long for an apocalypse so we can go back to simpler times. Of course the invention of trains can be blamed for the 'progress' of society too. It reorganized the world as everyone knew it.

The museum was quite good as well with lots of objects, photos, and other things that told the history of the area. There was also a shop full of souvenirs and we bought a book on the Little Engine that Could for the grandson.

Of course the biggest joy for me was seeing this guy have fun. A shame the trains weren't running.

With Love,

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