Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park & Railway

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Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park & Railway is a railway and mining museum in Lithgow, New South Wales. It focuses on coal mining and related industries and aims to show the industrial history of western New South Wales coalfields. The museum has Australia’s most comprehensive collection of coal mining artefacts, including coal cutters, loaders, continuous miners and underground transport, and it uses multimedia exhibits. It is owned and run by The City of Greater Lithgow Mining Museum Inc.

The site began as the Lithgow State Coal Mine and was given to the Lithgow community in 1990 after Austen & Butta Limited donated the land. It sits on the northern edge of Lithgow on the old State Coal Mine site, which closed in 1964 after flood damage. The museum is connected to the Main Western railway line by a 1.5 km branch from Lithgow yard. In 1976 the site was sold to Austin & Butta Collieries, who donated it to the City of Lithgow in 1990, with restoration work beginning soon after. In October 2001 a fire destroyed the carriage shed and several items of rolling stock. The site is also used by Southern Shorthaul Railroad as a maintenance depot.