DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum in Toowoomba

An interesting place to visit. Spoke to several of the volunteers who explained what the organization was about. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

You love heritage you will love this.

Lovely to walk through the different era coaches and see the only C16 left that was built in Toowoomba. Great scones and coffee also in the dinner. well worth the visit.

A lovely Train museum to visit. It is well maintained and there are some interesting carriages to look at. The volunteers are very helpful and the video in the indigenous carriage by the artist is well worth watching.

The day of my visit there were 2 steam locos fired up but not going anywhere. Static displays of steam traction engine. Small museum but with much potential. Interesting reading about their C16 loco. Although 100s were built only one remains in existence. The remaining were scrapped. A total shame not keeping some for future generations.

Excellent place. Hard to find but well worth the effort. Great group of volunteers working hard to restore and actually have a working museum. Tour guides were nice and knowledgeable. Entry price of $5 so cheap to see so much. Thanks to all the volunteers that keep this place alive

Andrew guided me around which was a fantastic experience. He gave me great insight into the Toowoomba rail history plus some of the types of trains used over the years and some of the artwork. One carriage no one can take photos of due to artwork copyright but it’s a must see live purely amazing paintings.

Friendly group of volunteers, the tour guides have good knowledge of the displays.

Loved this place. Clearly the volunteers who run this place care for their goals to run regular trips very deeply. Im sure they will realise that goal. The exhibit is relatively small if you have been to other preserved railways but the quality is high and the guides are all over to give you very detailed information and answer every question. The entry is via an honesty box. Very sad to see people not electing to pay the very low $5 entry fee.

Bob Henderson, Volunteer, showed us the link between the coal carrier and the locomotive.You can see the extrusion marks on the connecting rod.Our other tour guide, Andrew is so knowledgeable. The dreamtime carriages has to be seen for yourself. The mens dancing smoking ritual is very memorable.What an amazing place to visit. It is unlike anywhere else we have ever seen.

Nice little museum with a bunch of very active volunteers.

Good old railway rolling stock. Bygone era of the glory days of QR.

This is a must do when visiting Toowoomba. Run by volunteers, funded by donations. The team here are very passionate about Toowoomba and the restoration of these carriages and Steam engine. Thanks for showing us through..

Good to see the steam loco working , museum looking good plenty of old rail way carriages railmotor , staff friendly and helpful good morning outing 🚂🛤️

Excellent. Very helpful and knowledgeable staff. Very educational. Highly recommended.

If you are a train lover, especially steam locomotives. This is the place to visit. The volunteers have done a fantastic job in making these engines, carriages and museum something to amaze the young and old. Highly recommended.

Great place to visit ,great work being done on our heritage rail wagons. Lovely food and coffee.

A little (but important and funpiece of history right here.Had a guided tour through the location.Cant wait for the steam engine to be doing live runs 2022 to Warwick etc..This will be a major attraction for many to come to Toowoomba.Really enjoyed immersing ourselves here today..ps scones on Saturdays only yummo

This is a great little workshop/museum dedicated to restoring/preserving Toowoombas rail history. Entirely operated by volunteers with the highlight being the Dreamtime carriage painted by a local First Nations artist. Truely amazing. You can see the carriage on the website but fully awesome in real life.

This is a dont miss if your into history and have an hour or two to spare. Dedicated volunteers who love to talk trains. The Aboriginal painted carriage is something else and wouldnt be out of place in an art gallery. Only $5 entry as well.

Really good place to visit. You dont have to be a train nut, but its good to see how things used to be. Morning tea was delicious. All staff are volunteers and do an awesome job with the donations they receive. Well worth a visit

Brilliant place excellent tour staff.The Aboriginal painting in the carriage was very well done a real artist.carry on with the good work.

Many volunteers are working around old trains to bring them back to life: amazing tour that will bring you back in time... BUT must to see the aboriginal art work of Domi 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

We had a lovely guide Robert who made the experience enjoyable and informative. The volunteers do a great job!

Moderate sized railway museum and workshop run by dedicated volunteers. Opening hours vary, check website for times. Historic displays and a number of carriages to wander through along with a nearly ready to run C-16 locomotive. Well worth a visit.

This is a real gem of a place. All the volunteers are so passionate about the history of Qld trains. They have free tours of the old carriages and then seeing the old 106 Toowoomba built steam train , nearly fully restored was also fantastic. Will be going back

An amazing journey inside a train. Visual storytelling by an extraordinary indigenous artist who shares colourful dimensional images of legends from the Dreamtime. A real feeling of connection to the past, the people & the country.

A wonderful opportunity to visit the past as well as see so much wonderful work carried out by an army of volunteers.So worth your time to visit, as well as listen to the wonderful volunteers tell you of the work carried out.

Good displays , donation entry fee .But unfortunately there was nobody to tall about the displays or ask questions

Fantastic place, and the great work from volunteers is a credit to them. I just have one question , and quite a few people ask the same thing....Why not open on Sundays?

Sn excellent day. Enjoyed the big band music, the grounds and the layout. The museum part is not open on Sundays, but we loved the atmosphere and great service by the volunteers. Thank you.

Currently a museum with aspirations of operating trains, DownsSteam is a quality experience for anyone interested in trains. The collection, workshops and a general environment are well presented. The stand out is the Dreamtime Journey coach, a unique world class exhibit in rail circles.If the opportunity arises, dining at DownSteam is an excellent option. Truly enjoyable.So mark DownsSteam as an essential highlight on any visit to the Toowoomba area.

Cheap entry, amazing work by the volunteereers and offer plenty of stories with thh history of the trains.

Lots of things to look at and a lovely team of volunteers. A terrific experience for locals and tourists alike. Well worth the visit.

A must do when visiting Toowoomba.Labour of love for a very dedicated team of volunteers with all skills put to work.What has been built out of a paddock to fully functional tour is incredible.If you are a lover of the railway, of times gone by or just the shear scale of what has been achieved, this is the place to visit.Take the tour with a volunteer or you will miss out so much information and the amazing dreamtime carriage!The scones and coffee are a must.All proceeds are returned to the project.$5 admission for adults as of Oct 2020.

Not a lot to see but was there was nice. Took our 2 year old who loves trains. Great tester to see if he would tolerate a larger museum that costs more to enter

It winds you back into the past and lets you enjoy a little old time dinning. Watch their space for when they will be able to leave the station.

Love the older generation that restore and preserve history for future generations, Our past was solid!!! made to last. But this particular attraction has a aboriginal artists inspirational painted carriage. The complete inside of the carriage is of the dreamtime and the good spirits. The bad spirits that led this talented inmate artist astray would be a good follow up carriage. No photos could be taken in this carriage, but there is a YouTube video uploaded by the artist. A walk through the dreamtime carriage...

No entry fee, donation solicitrd. Lucky to be there with few other people so given a delightful personalised tour by a patient and knowledgeable volunteer. Some superb restoration work being done. Well worth a visit.

Fantastic place, had a tour with one of the volunteers, very knowledgeable. Must see the carriage with the aboriginal art, having a guide to help explain the meaning of each panel would be really beneficial.

Really good , with only a gold coin to enter makes it a great place for the family to visitThe volunteer staff are very good at showing you around

Wonderful, informative and relaxing place with friendly, knowledgeable staff.

A must do when visiting Toowoomba. The guides are excellent. Check out the Aboriginal art work done by a very talented Aboriginal man in one of the carriages.

This is a really well organised and superb display of rolling stock and locomotives, the refurbished carriages magnificent especially the Dreamtime carriage - such wonderful work! The volunteers are dedicated and informative the restoration work really excellent. Can’t wait for the steam outings.

Not open very often but when it is its a must see for if you can spare a good half a day. Thanks so much to the helpful welcoming and friendly volunteers who made our visit absolutely fantastic. Hope to see some trains on the tracks soon guys that would really but the place on the map.

Full marks for the presentation & commitment by all volunteers involved. Interesting future goals. Guide was extremely knowledgeable of the history through to modern times. Loved the special carriage and art works dedicated to dream time.

Very friendly tour guide , he took us through the trains and explained the history behind it one by one , learned a lot of history of Toowoomba from here.It is a place worth going .

Well...I went with my Family to see history of QLD rail.It was incredible experience. I love to say that visit once to know about QLD rail and ancient Rail Engine.

Lovely museum.. The volunteers do a great job by taking us through the museum, providing historical information. The volunteers are also doing restoration work in the museum which is excellent. Definitely recommend to people who are interested in trains.

Attended a 70th birthday party here last week. Had no idea how much history was here and how fascinating this venue was. What kind & skilled people live in our area! Would like to go back & learn more. Friendly staff. Worthy cause for donations.