Newport Railway Museum Explained

Newport Railway Museum
Established:	10 November 1962
Location:	26 Champion Road, Newport, Victoria
Type:	Railway museum
Website:	Official Site

The Newport Railway Museum is located on Champion Road, Newport, Victoria, near the North Williamstown station.

History

The museum opened on 10 November 1962, after the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) Victorian Division was allocated space at Newport Workshops by the Victorian Railways to develop a collection of key examples of steam locomotives that were then in the process of being replaced by diesel and electric locomotives. By the late 1980s, the early diesel and electric locomotives that had replaced steam traction were themselves nearing end of life, and the museum expanded its collection to incorporate a number of key examples.^[1]

Following a safety audit by VicTrack, the landlord and owner of most of the exhibits, the museum closed in February 2010.^[2] After various improvements, it reopened in March 2014.

On 16 June 2020, it was announced that the ARHS had withdrawn from the operation of the museum and a new group, Newport Railway Museum Inc., formed by museum volunteers, had entered into an arrangement with VicTrack to take over the Museum site lease.^[3]

Site improvements

In recent years, projects have been undertaken to construct roof canopies to cover the exhibits and protect the collection from the elements.

• In 2016, a project was announced to construct a 693sqm roof canopy over four wooden passenger carriages and three of the oldest steam locomotives on the site;^[4] this project was completed in 2017.
• In 2019, the Victorian Government announced a project to construct a roof canopy to protect the heritage-listed locomotive H220 Heavy Harry.^[5] A 1134sqm structure that covered H220 and several adjacent exhibits was completed in 2020. In announcing the completion of the second roof canopy, Newport Railway Museum stated its intention to continue to construct further roofing over remaining exhibits to ensure their preservation.^[6]
• In late 2023, the second canopy was further extended by to bring several additional exhibits under cover, including steam locomotive C10, the last-remaining member of a class the museum describes as representative of a step change in the haulage of freight in Australia.^{[7] [8]}

Opening hours

The museum's regular opening hours are between 12 noon and 5 pm on Saturdays.^[9] During school holiday periods, the museum opens on both Saturdays and Sundays, between 12 noon and 5 pm.^[10]

Collection

The museum contains the largest existing collection of Victorian Railways steam locomotives, a wide range of other Victorian Railways rolling stock, and numerous Victorian Railways artefacts. The collection includes:^[11]

• seventeen steam locomotives
• eight diesel locomotives
• three electric locomotives and four electric suburban carriages
• five country/interstate passenger carriages
• ten freight wagons and two guards vans
• five railway cranes
• rail tractors and postal trolleys
• a signal box
• an O scale model railway

Steam locomotives

Number	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
F 176			1880		Canadian Red
T 94			1884		Two-tone green	Built as T 265. Renumbered as T 94 in 1924. Modified with flangeless wheels and coupled to W Class tender
Y 108			1889		Two-tone green	Built as Y 395. Renumbered as Y 412 in 1924. Renumbered as Y 108 in 1951
E 369			1892	David Munro	Black	Built as E 494. Rebuilt as an 0-6-2T and renumbered as E^E 494 in 1919. Renumbered as E^E 369 in 1923. Renumbered as E 369 in 1931
E 236			1893	David Munro	Two-tone green	Built as E 506. Renumbered as E 236 in 1923
D^4 268			1910		Canadian Red	Built as D ^{D} _{E} 790. Renumbered D ^{D} _{E} 268 in 1923. Renumbered as D^4 369
D^2 604			1912		Canadian Red with blue lining	Built as D^D 557. Renumbered D^D 580 in 1925. Renumbered D^D 795 in 1926. Renumbered D^2 795 in 1929. Renumbered D^2 604 in 1951
D^3 635			1912		Black with red lining	built as D^D 597. Renumbered D^1 597 in 1930. Renumbered D^3 635 in 1939
A^2 884			1913		Canadian Red	Built as A^2 848. Renumbered A^2 884 in 1929. Last remaining example of original 125 A^2 locomotives built with Stephenson valve gear
A^2 995			1916		Canadian Red	Example of later 60 A^2 locomotives built with Walschaerts valve gear
C 10			1922		Black
X 36 / Gerald A Dee			1929		Black
H 220 / Heavy Harry			1941		Black
K 165			1941		Black
N 432			1951		Jubilee Train - Green and gold	Last steam locomotive built by VR's Newport Workshops. Its green and gold livery was applied to N 430 for the 1951 Centenary-Jubilee train
R 704			1952		Black with red lining	Was displayed at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and retained its commemorative plaques
J 556			1954		Black with red lining	Wears the historically significant plates of scrapped J559, the last steam locomotive to enter service on the VR

Diesel locomotives

Number / Name	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
F 216 / SEC 2			1952		SEC green	Renumbered back to SEC 2
F 211 / Little Trimmer			1953		V/Line Orange & Grey	Was SEC 3
B 83			1953		VR Blue and gold
S 308			1958		V/Line Orange & Grey
V 56			1959		The Met (Trefoil logo)
W 243			1960		VR Blue and gold
W 255			1960		VR Blue and gold
T 367			1964		V/Line Orange & Grey
Y 137			1965		V/Line Orange & Grey

Electric rollingstock

Number / Name	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
8M			1888		Heritage red
E 1102			1928		Black
L 1150 / R G Wishart			1953		VR Blue and gold
795M			1968		VR Blue and gold
187M			1980		Steel
903M			1983		The Met (Trefoil logo)	Converted from Harris 744M

Passenger carriages

Number / Name	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
136 AB			1886		Red	Body only, resting on a steel frame
11 AA			1880	Wright & Edwards	Red	Display car
Norman			1890		Red	Display car
Torrens			1907		Overland - Dark green
Wimmera			1908		VR Blue and gold
VRS 231 / Mitta Mitta			1939		V/Line Mk II	Birthday car

Vans

Number	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
ZL 220			1875		Red	Built as D 45. Renumbered as Z 45 in 1910. Renumbered as Z 220 in 1954. Renumbered as ZL 220 in 1960
ZLP 25			1962		Red	Built as ZF 25. Renumbered as ZLP 25 in 1965
VVEY 1			1980		White	Built as ZMF 1. Renumbered VVEY 1 in 1983. Body on ground
VVEY 10			1982		White	Built as ZMF 10. Renumbered VVEY 10. Body on ground

Freight wagons

Number	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
IB 5452			1890	Lennon, H., Spottiswoode	Red	Built as I 5452. Renumbered as IB 5452 in 1929. Renumbered as HD 5452 in 1960. Renumbered as IB 5452 in 1968
H 925			1893		Red
H 958			1897		Red
KR 169			1905		Red	Built as I 7460. Renumbered as IA 7460 in 1935. Renumbered as KR 169 in 1959
UB 56			1916		Red	Built as U 855. Renumbered as UB 56 in 1934. Renumbered as VLAA 56 in 1981
KR 307			1917		Red	Built as I 14911. Renumbered as KR 307 in 1968
No. 15 Oil Tank		OT Oil Tank	1924		BP - Black with yellow stripe
RY 600			1931		Red	Built as IZ 600. Renumbered as RY 600 in 1965
VLBY 114			1954		VR Red	Built as VP 114. Renumbered as VLPY 114 in 1980. Renumbered as VLBY 114 in 1983
VLX 334			1966		Red	Built as VLX 334. Renumbered VLCX 334 in 1979
HZL 211					Red

Other items

Number	Image	Type	Year built	Builder	Livery	Notes
RT 1		Rail Tractor	1932		Red
		Ex Geelong Loco Hand Crane
No 2 Steam Crane		Steam crane			Black
No 19 Steam Crane		Steam crane			Black
No 19 Crane Tender		Crane tender			Red
No 36 Steam Crane		Steam crane			Black
No 73 Hand Crane		Hand crane			Green, yellow and black
SEC 37		SEC electric loco
Coal Hopper 637		SEC coal hopper			White and yellow
Mary the Match Truck		Wagon			Red
		Postal motor trolley			Yellow
		Way & works trollies			Yellow	2 trollies
		Cordite trucks			Yellow	2 trucks

Notes and References

1. Web site: Museum - About Us. Australian Railways Historical Society - Victorian Division. 2014-09-28. 22 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140722135655/http://www.arhsvic.org.au/index.php/museum/museum-about-us. live.
2. Web site: Museum Closure . 2010 . Australian Railway Historical Society Victorian Division . Australian Railway Historical Society . https://web.archive.org/web/20100919235726/http://www.arhsvic.org.au/content/museum-closure . 19 September 2010 . 10 May 2014 .
3. Web site: Facebook - Newport Railway Museum . . 16 June 2020 . 21 August 2020.
4. November 2016. New roof to protect Victoria's historic rail assets. Newsrail. 44. 11. 346.
5. 15 May 2019 . Wild about Heavy Harry . Maribyrnong & Hobsons Bay Star Weekly . 29 December 2021 . 29 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211229075217/https://maribyrnonghobsonsbay.starweekly.com.au/news/wild-heavy-harry/ . live.
6. November 2020. H220 Heavy Harry finally protected from the elements. Newsrail. 48. 11. 365.
7. Pittorino. Jennifer. 21 September 2023. Railway museum works underway. Star Weekly. 14 May 2024.
8. November 2023. Tourist and heritage rail. Newsrail. 51. 11. 403.
9. Web site: Australian Railway Historical Society Museum. Only Melbourne. 2014-09-28. 28 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140428023436/http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=11211#.U1uFCRzUCBU. live.
10. Web site: Newport Railway Museum . 2022-03-15 . Newport Railway Museum Inc. . 24 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230324164509/https://newportrailwaymuseum.org.au/ . live .
11. Web site: Visiting The Museum. Australian Railway Historical Society. 2015-07-15. 15 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150715152850/http://arhsvic.org.au/index.php/museum/museo. live.