Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum

The Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum is a public park in Port Hedland, Western Australia, with an open-air display of retired mining machinery and railway rollingstock.

Don Rhodes Mining and Transport Museum
A view of two of the locomotives on display.
LocationWilson Street,
Port Hedland,
Western Australia
Coordinates20.311472°S 118.605582°E / -20.311472; 118.605582
TypeMining museum
Transport museum
OwnerTown of Port Hedland
Nearest car parkAdjacent (no charge)

Located on Wilson Street, which links the town with the Great Northern Highway and North West Coastal Highway, the museum faces Nelson Point Yard, the northern terminus of the Mount Newman railway.

History

Don Rhodes, after whom the museum is named, was a pioneer of the mining and transport industries in the Pilbara region, and was responsible for commissioning the first modern Australian built roadtrain.[1]

While working manganese leases, Rhodes initially used various English made trucks, but these could not cope with the task. He therefore arranged for his chief engineer, Harold Ridley, to design and build the 70 ton Rhodes Ridley roadtrain, a rig that, when it was completed in 1958, was capable of hauling the company's 100 ton crushing plants.[1]

However, the government of the day ultimately refused to license the Rhodes Ridley or even allow it to operate on gazetted roads. It had done barely 3,000 miles (4,800 km) by the time it was forced to retire.[1]

Exhibits

Three standard gauge locomotives are on display in the centre of the museum. Each of them previously operated on one or both of the mining railways that terminate at Port Hedland (the Goldsworthy railway and the Mount Newman railway).

No. Locomotive In service Builder Notes Photograph
0002  Goldsworthy Bo-Bo 1965 English Electric Used in the construction of the Goldsworthy railway between Mount Goldsworthy and Finucane Island. In 1966, it hauled the first ore train from Mt Goldsworthy to Finucane Island.
 5451  EMD F7
Bo-Bo		 1951 Electro-Motive Division Owned originally by Western Pacific Railroad. Purchased in 1967 by Mt Newman Mining. Used on the construction of the Mount Newman railway, then operated the service train until retirement in 1971.
 5497  M636 Co-Co 1975 ALCO / Commonwealth Engineering Owned originally by Mt Newman Mining, and later by BHP Iron Ore.

See also

References

Notes
  1. "00 RHODES Don". roadtransporthall.com. National Road Transport Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

Further reading
  • Joyce, John; Tilley, Allan (1979). Railways in the Pilbara. Wembley, WA: J&A Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0959969926.
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