SRF MEDIA: PRESERVATION AUSTRALIA

Strange Modelers Of Universal Trains

At Semi-Retired Foamer Media, we believe railway preservation, railway history and railway modelling are best served by people working together, not endlessly arguing over who is "doing it wrong."
Our aim is to promote the museums, heritage railways, historical societies, and volunteers who quietly keep our railway heritage alive. While some seem convinced that the hobby's greatest threat is someone else actually achieving something, we'd much rather celebrate the people who roll up their sleeves and make things happen.
This website continues the philosophy of the old SMUT group, which was established to support regional railway preservation and give something back to the hobby. Sadly, it also proved that no good deed goes uncriticised.
Fortunately, locomotives don't read social media, and preservation continues thanks to dedicated volunteers rather than keyboard warriors who continually defecate their hatred online.
Here, we'll continue promoting the people, projects and events that help our hobby grow—because preserving railway history is a far better pastime than trying to derail everyone else's enthusiasm.

Monday, July 20, 2026

SRF MEDIA: PRESERVATION AUSTRALIA

Soft Opening

Welcome to the test relaunch of our former preservation news site.

Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be publishing occasional news, updates and features covering some of Australia's leading railway museums and preservation organisations. Our aim is simple: to help promote these museums, highlight their activities, and hopefully encourage more people to visit, volunteer and support the incredible work they do in preserving Australia's rich railway heritage.

Semi-Retired Foamer Media is an independent publication and is not affiliated with any museum, preservation society or railway organisation. We've simply had a long-standing passion for Australia's railways and the people who work tirelessly to ensure their history isn't forgotten.

Please note that this website is currently operating in a testing phase while we refine its layout, content and overall direction. There may be the occasional change, tweak or unexpected hiccup along the way, but we hope you'll enjoy following the journey as the site gradually returns to life.

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you'll call back regularly as new content is added.

Updates.

Note: Latest updates noted in (brackets).

Latest site update: 23rd August 2026

VICTORIA - (July 2026)

NEW SOUTH WALES - (August 2026)

QUEENSLAND - (August 26)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA - (Yet To Open)

NORTHERN TERRITORY - (Yet To Open)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA - (August 2026)

INDUSTRIALS - (Yet To Open)

TRAMS - (Yet To Open)

SRF RAIL MEDIA UPDATES - (September 2026)

In the meantime, feel free to visit our main websites and YouTube Channel.

Semi-Retired Foamer Website.

Semi-Retired Foamer YouTube.

Semi-Retired Foamer Travel.

Australian Locomotive (& Tram) Rosters.

Let's Make The Hobby Great Again.

Steamranger Website

Welcome to The Semi-Retired Foamer Media Newsdesk

Welcome to The Semi-Retired Foamer Newsdesk Welcome to The Semi-Retired Foamer Newsdesk, the spiritual successor to the preservation and channel news section that many readers enjoyed in our former SMUTTER e-zine. Rather than waiting for the next issue to roll around, we thought we'd drag ourselves into the 21st century and try this whole "website" thing. Scary, we know. As always, we'll continue trying to move the hobby forward while others seem determined to spend their time proving that reverse gear works perfectly well. We'd much rather celebrate railway preservation, promote worthwhile projects, and encourage people to get involved than waste time on the endless negativity that occasionally seems to plague our hobby. We fully expect this site to be just as successful as our previous ventures, and we warmly invite railway museums, preservation groups, heritage railways, historical societies and related organisations to send us details of upcoming events, restoration projects, new acquisitions, special trains, or any other promotional material you'd like us to share. If it helps promote railway preservation, we're interested. Our occasional Australian and Philippine publications—including those produced for our sister organisation, the Philippine Railway Historical Society—will continue exactly as before. Their mission remains unchanged: to promote our railway heritage, preserve its history, and hopefully inspire others to become involved in the hobby we all enjoy. Those publications aren't disappearing; this website simply gives us another, and much quicker, way of getting information out there. For now, The Semi-Retired Foamer Newsdesk is very much a trial run. There may be the occasional hiccup, odd layout, or mysterious gremlin wandering through the website while we work things out. Please bear with us as we continue tinkering behind the scenes—it's all part of the adventure. Finally, if you're involved with a museum, preservation group, heritage railway, model railway exhibition, railway publisher, or hobby shop and would like to promote an event, product, or news item, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us an email and let's help spread the word. After all, promoting the hobby beats arguing about it any day.

Launched 20th of July 2026
15,254 visitors as of 11-11-17