Transport Museum Barbour Road: Rail Paybus FP1 Demographics The showed Thirlmere's population to be 4,046, with a gender split of 49.3% males to 50.7% females. 79.5% of the population is Australian born, 4.5% born in England, 1.0% in New Zealand, 1.0% in Estonia, 0.8% in Scotland and 0.7% Lebanon. The most common ancestries in Thirlmere were Australian 33.9%, English 31.0%, Irish 7.1%, Scottish 5.9% and German 2.6%. The median age of people in Thirlmere was 40 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 20.0% of the population. People aged 65 years and over made up 19.3% of the population. 29.2% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 32.1% were in primary school, 22.2% in secondary school and 14.7% in a tertiary or technical institution. Environment The area's highest recorded temperature is 42.8 °C. Its lowest recorded temperature is -10.0 °C. The area receives an average of 812.6mm of annual rainfall. The highest recorded rainfall was 245.9mm in one day. The area, part of Sydney's water catchment area, experiences most of its rainfall from January to March. Thirlmere Lakes National Park is an important environmental area - it is a series of lakes which have a sandstone bed. The lakes area is generally sheltered, providing an ideal home to many freshwater inhabitants such as platypuses, mussels, jellyfish, and a wide variety of water birds. The parks is also host to a significant wombat population. The area's dense bushland surroundings make the town vulnerable to bushfires, with fires destroying a house in 2006. Attractions NSW Rail Museum The NSW Rail Museum is Australia's largest and oldest railway museum with over 125 railway exhibits. It is the home to many steam and diesel locomotives, the most popular of which is the famous 3801. Steam train rides are available on Sundays during the winter months, to avoid the risk of bushfire in this rural area. Each year on the first Sunday in March, the town's population grows to over 15,000 as tourists flock to the "Thirlmere Festival of Steam" - NSW's premier annual steam event featuring the state's biggest gathering of main-line steam locos and all the fun of the fair and markets. The museum also operates excursion trains from Sydney to Thirlmere hauled by steam and/or diesel locomotives. Thirlmere Lakes National Park As well as being an important environment ecosystem, Thirlmere Lakes (managed by the NSW Parks & Wildlife Service) is