New England Railway Inc., is a volunteer based heritage railway group which was formed in 1998 when the Glen Innes rail group and the Armidale rail group joined forces to form the current group. Two of the Glen Innes members are, are still involved with the group after about 15 years of participation. Also one of the Armidale members has been involved with the group for  the last 7 years approximately, holding several important positions in the Armidale Branch committee.

NERI., is a member of the Association of Railway Preservation Groups ( ARPG ) and a newer group which is Rail Heritage Australia ( NSW ) INC http://rha-nsw.org.au/membership.php. Our Membership is from all over the state of New South Wales and new members are always welcome. How and where to join us is on the Contacts page. Above is a photogragh of railmotors 732 and 632.

New England's plan is to run Heritage Tourist Passenger Services from Armidale to Wallangarra/Jennings on th NSW/QLD border. The services may start off on short runs first, in the short term, gradually extending as money and access permit. The group now has branches at Armidale, Glen Innes and one at Wallangarra/Jennings/Tenterfield. Railmotors 765 and 635 are at present in their last stage of Restoration getting ready to have the seats installed.

History.

New England Railway Inc., intends to make use of what was the Great Northern railway, opened to Armidale in 1883 and extended in sections until it reached Wallangarra/jennings in 1889. The line was of strategic importance in World War two, despite it's break of guage problems at the NSW/QLD border, because it took traffic away from the conjested and potentially more liable to attack by sea, North Coast railway. With the cessation of hostilities and the proliferation of motor traffic, the importance of the line waned. The Brisbane Express via Wallangarra was discontinued in 1972. Daylight services to Glen Innes and Tenterfield ceased in 1986, although the overnight services soldiered on until 1988. The line behind Glen Innes lost it's freight services in 1989 and by 1994, the line beyond Dumaresq, some 20 kilometres north of Armidale, was declared unavailable for traffic.

When the Great Northern railway was operational. many towns and villages along the line had their own stations or at the very least a siding or loop. Many of these have either been reduced to prosaic platforms or simply disappeared altogether. They include places like Exmouth. Llangothlin, Glencoe, Stonehenge,Yarraford, Dundee, Sandy Flat, Bolivia, Bungulla and Sunnyside. Of these, platform facings are still evident at Llangothlin, Stonehenge, Dundee and Sunnyside.