In the early days of operation it was at times known as the Western Australian Rail Transport Museum.[1] On the internet and social media it has been referred to by diverse names variant on its location, such as Bassendean Railway Museum[2][3] and Rail Heritage Museum Bassendean.[4] The predominant name currently is Railway Museum.[5][6]
The museum has the most comprehensive collection of heritage steam locomotives and rolling stock in Western Australia.[7][8][9]
Originally developed in 1969 and officially opened in November 1974 by the Western Australian Minister for Transport Ray O'Connor,[10] its collection comprises:
Diesel Locomotives
Steam Locomotives – include representatives of most classes that operated in the WAGR
The onsite museum building houses an archive that includes an online photograph collection covering most of Western Australian railway history.[11][full citation needed]
^Western Australian Government Railways Commission (1988), Westrail news : a monthly publication for staff, Westrail, Public Affairs, ISSN1032-4852 16th ed., Aug. 1990 - re Steamfest at Bassendean, noting that in the same era Yarloop had steam events as well