Newport Railway Museum in Newport, Victoria, Australia | Arts and entertainment

Newport Railway Museum

Locality: Newport, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9397 7412

Address: 26 Champion Rd 3015 Newport, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.newportrailwaymuseum.org.au

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25.01.2022 The Museum remains closed, but our volunteers are continuing works to ready the site for the construction of the new roof which will cover H220 Heavy Harry and several other nearby exhibits. In recent weeks, we've moved a large number of exhibits to allow a space large enough for vehicles to access the construction area. All have been carefully winched by hand, which while slow, is a very gentle way of moving them. (And a great upper-body workout for the persons operating the... winches!) Today it was the turn of D3 635 and J559. Both locomotives have had our works team carefully lubricate all moving parts in preceding days, and return the reversing gear to the mid-gear position to minimise the amount of valve travel, all to ensure that there will be no undue strain on any moving parts. The D3 was moved backwards a few metres, opening up a new view of H220 for those passing the Museum on Champion Road. Later in the afternoon, it was the J's turn, once again moving backwards a few metres. Among the preparations made for this locomotive's move in recent days was the re-welding of a badly repaired cut in the reach rod, which links the valve gear to the reverser control in the cab. Fortunately, one of our works team has excellent welding skills and has effected a first rate repair, with the reach rod now good as new and operating the valve gear once more.

25.01.2022 Construction is about to commence on the new roof at the Newport Railway Museum, which is being built with the generous support of the Victorian government. The new roof is being built to protect our key exhibit, the heritage-listed express passenger steam locomotive H220 'Heavy Harry' (pictured) from the elements to ensure future generations will continue to be able to admire this superlative example of Victorian Railways' design, engineering and manufacturing capability. W...Continue reading

24.01.2022 Heavy Harry is now Happy Harry! Finally, this magnificent heritage-listed express passenger steam locomotive is now protected from the weather, along with several other nearby exhibits, following the construction of our new roof which is rapidly nearing completion. Our thanks to the Victorian Government (and of course our wonderful volunteers) for making this project a reality.

24.01.2022 A very interesting photograph capturing three classic "bulldog" streamlined locomotives at the former Spencer Street Station, one of which is today in our collection at the Newport Railway Museum! This photo shows the transition from the Victorian Railways blue and gold livery that had graced mainline diesel locomotives since 1952, seen on S300 at left, through to the short-lived 1981 VicRail "teacup" orange and silver livery on B83 in the middle of the photo, and then the V/...Line orange and grey livery introduced from 1983 as seen in locomotive S317 at the right of the image. Locomotive B83 wore all three liveries during its 39-year working life. Many people have a soft spot for the classic VR blue and gold, but as the 1980s recede further into memory, there is increasing nostalgia for the VicRail and V/Line orange schemes. Which do you prefer?

23.01.2022 It turns out the Railway Museum isn't the only railway facility where a big new 1100+ square metre roof has recently gone up to protect some trains! The latest Newsrail magazine features a cover photo of a new roofed area at Bombardier's Dandenong South facility, where the V/Line VLocity trains are built. This edition also features a great article written by John Anderson, one of our Museum volunteers, on his schoolboy experiences in transpotting the famous express train 'Spi...rit of Progress', and even includes some new, previously unpublished photographs. You can pick up a copy at selected newsagents: https://vicrailpublishing.com.au/stockists Or you can even subscribe at https://vicrailpublishing.com.au/subscribe

21.01.2022 Our star attraction, H220 Heavy Harry, has made the cover of Newsrail, Victoria's monthly rail magazine!

21.01.2022 Railway history is not confined to railway museums, and today a little history was made when the forthcoming High Capacity Metro Train went for a test run along the Sunbury line, running in between normally scheduled services. Previous testing had been done at night after services had ceased, or while regular services had been temporarily suspended.

20.01.2022 Victoria's rail history isn't just about steam locomotives! The latest edition of Newsrail magazine includes some wonderful photographs from the V/Line Orange and Victorian Railways Blue and Gold era. It also features some amazing photographs of the early days of the Geelong railway line, which transferred from private to government operation 160 years ago this week.

18.01.2022 UPDATE - 30 November 2020: At this stage works at the Museum are continuing. We will most likely be closed until after Christmas, as we still have work to do to make the site safe and secure for our visitors following a very large construction project. However, we do believe that when the Museum reopens, our visitors will appreciate the significant improvements that will be either in progress or already in place. Please keep an eyes on this page, and we will certainly advis...Continue reading

16.01.2022 Major construction on our new roof, built with the generous support of the Victorian government, is now complete. Several museum assets are now either partially or fully under cover, most notably our beloved heritage-listed steam locomotive H220 Heavy Harry! We now have some major volunteer effort ahead of us in coming weeks to make the space ready and available for our visitors, such as putting in pathways, signage, and other amenities. Meanwhile, we are very excited that ...the gradual lifting of some COVID restrictions now opens the way for the Museum to reopen to the public in the not-too-distant future. We are working towards opening as soon as possible. We are now busily attending to the task of developing the COVID-safe plans that will ensure both visitors and volunteers can attend safely. We will be making further announcements SOON, as these plans are finalised and works to make the site ready for visitors are completed. Stay tuned!

13.01.2022 A fascinating image, courtesy of the Castlemaine Mail, of well-wishers at Castlemaine station turning out to see HM Queen Elizabeth II during her 1954 Royal Tour. As we look back on this photo in the midst of our current COVID crisis, it is interesting to note that the Queen was unable to disembark the Royal Train due to a local epidemic in Castlemaine at the time. In the photo, locomotive B60 is seen passing through Platform 1 at Castlemaine station bearing a special royal ...headboard. This locomotive, since rebuilt as A60, has very recently been allocated to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (SRHC) for operational preservation. The tall signalbox on the opposite platform today overlooks the operations of the Victorian Goldfields Railway, which operates heritage services between Castlemaine and Maldon from Platform 3. In our own collection at the Railway Museum, we have steam locomotive R704. In February 1952 it was being specially prepared for its role as the locomotive for the Royal Train for the then-Princess Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh. The royal couple were undertaking a tour of Commonwealth countries in the place of the ailing King George VI, and were due in Australia in April. However, that tour was abruptly cancelled when the King passed away in his sleep and Elizabeth, now Queen, returned to Britain to assume her new duties as monarch. By the time of her 1954 visit, B class diesels had displaced the R class steam locomotives as the glamour locomotive of the Victorian Railways, and B60 now had the honour of hauling the Royal Train in place of R704.

11.01.2022 Ahhh memories! During August and September last year Mobil was busily replacing the pipeline that runs along the front of the Railway Museum, and for a few weeks our normal entrance on Champion Road was closed. Visitors instead had to walk along a specially-arranged path through the Newport Workshops, past High Capacity Metro Train carriages under construction, and entered the Railway Museum via a side access gate. From there they stepped up into the 1890-built Departmental carriage 'Norman' and purchased tickets at our improvised "Hitachi Counter" in the parlour section, before walking through the car and exiting via its end platform. Such a stately way to enter the Railway Museum!

11.01.2022 Over the weekend, we were delighted to welcome three VIPs who came to inspect progress on the works associated with our new roof over H220 'Heavy Harry' and other nearby exhibits. We met with local MP Melissa Horne, whose assistance and support enabled the roof to be built, and Cliff Earl and Jack Waite, who early in their careers drove and fired H220. Followers of our page may remember that Cliff had the honour of driving H220 in its final revenue run from Seymour to Melbou...rne back in 1956. Cliff and Jack were kind enough to take Melissa for a guided tour of H220, including a free steam locomotive driving lesson! Melissa also inspected our 1915-built Walschaerts A2 class express passenger locomotive, which is also protected by the new roof. The A2s were permitted to run at 70 miles per hour (113km/h) and on occasion were noted running at even higher speeds. Cliff told Melissa of a time he was the fireman on one of two A2 locomotives that got a late-running express train from Seymour to Spencer Street Station (a 99km trip, including a climb over the Great Dividing Range and speed restrictions through the Melbourne suburbs) in an extraordinary 65-minute non-stop run. (Victorian commuters may well ask if there's any chance that we can persuade Cliff to come out of retirement!) We know many of you can't wait to visit us again, but we still have a fair bit of work to ready the Railway Museum for reopening to the public. We will make an announcement on our website and this Facebook page as soon as we know the date we will be open again.

11.01.2022 UPDATE - 8 November 2020: We are very excited that the gradual lifting of some COVID restrictions now opens the way for the Museum to potentially reopen to the public in the not-too-distant future. We are working towards being in a position to reopen as soon as possible. As well as doing various works to make the site ready for visitors following the recent construction of a new roof canopy, we are busily attending to the task of developing and implementing the COVID-safe pla...Continue reading

09.01.2022 Heavy Harry is now Happy Harry! Finally, this magnificent heritage-listed express passenger steam locomotive is now protected from the weather, along with several other nearby exhibits, following the construction of our new roof which is rapidly nearing completion. Our thanks to the Victorian Government (and of course our wonderful volunteers) for making this project a reality.

09.01.2022 One of the final movements of exhibits at the Museum prior to commencement of construction work on our new roof was the move of C10, which was carefully hand-winched backwards a couple of metres to allow space for the builder to move various equipment. Back in February and March (see inset photo) our volunteers had spent many hours carefully preparing and lubricating all moving parts so that the locomotive could be moved if needed. It turned out to have been a very useful investment of their time! Keen eyes will note that C10's driving wheels have done a half revolution and, by chance, its motion and valve gear on the driver's (left) side are now in the aesthetically pleasing "rods down" position.

08.01.2022 Ahhh memories! During August and September last year Mobil was busily replacing the pipeline that runs along the front of the Railway Museum, and for a few weeks our normal entrance on Champion Road was closed. Visitors instead had to walk along a specially-arranged path through the Newport Workshops, past High Capacity Metro Train carriages under construction, and entered the Railway Museum via a side access gate. From there they stepped up into the 1890-built Departmental carriage 'Norman' and purchased tickets at our improvised "Hitachi Counter" in the parlour section, before walking through the car and exiting via its end platform. Such a stately way to enter the Railway Museum!

07.01.2022 UPDATE - 23 September 2020: The Railway Museum remains closed. Under the government's current roadmap for reopening, no museum in the Melbourne metropolitan area can open before Monday 23 November. A further consideration has come into play for us at Newport Railway Museum, because in coming weeks we will see construction commencing on our big new roof to cover Heavy Harry and other nearby exhibits. This construction work will run for several weeks and will also require the ...Continue reading

07.01.2022 It's been a very exciting week for the Railway Museum as our big new roof canopy has begun to take shape. This new roof will soon be providing protection from the elements to several exhibits, the most famous of which is the heritage-listed steam locomotive H220 'Heavy Harry'. After pouring concrete foundations a few days ago, this week the steel structure has gone up, and it will not be much longer until the roof sheeting is on and these precious exhibits are finally protect...ed from the elements. Once major construction has been completed, we'll then be turning our attention to finishing touches such as installing power and lighting, and landscaping of the surrounding area which will include the planting of new trees. We are most thankful to the Victorian Government for making this project a reality. For more details on the exhibits being protected by the new roof, see our previous post here: https://www.facebook.com/NewportRailwayMuseum/posts/3370874779693068

06.01.2022 Hot on the heels of our roof construction commencing, news of another major project in the immediate area. LXRP has made a major announcement regarding the North Williamstown Railway Station that, being conveniently located just 200 metres from our front gate, is used by so many of our visitors to travel to the museum. The railway line and station are being sunk into a trench to eliminate the Ferguson Street level crossing. We're delighted to see that the existing 1912-built station building for the 'Up' (Melbourne-bound) platform will be retained as part of the design. https://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au//north-williamstown-stat

04.01.2022 It was just five months ago that the Railway Museum, together with our friends at Steamrail, 707 Operations and DERMPAV, opened for all three days of the Labour Day long weekend. As we reported at the time, we loaned a historic Spirit of Progress 25th anniversary headboard from the Museum collection to Steamrail for them to fit to the front of S class diesel S313, the same type of diesel as the one that hauled the historic 25th anniversary run. However, the Steamrail folks tried the headboard out on some other trains, including a V/Line VLocity! We think it was a much better fit for the VLocity than Number 2 Steam crane! Our thanks to Sam Barnes for the photos.

03.01.2022 Two years ago almost to the day, the Railway Museum was hit by a sudden late-winter storm that blasted through Newport. Our star exhibit, the 264 tonne express passenger locomotive H220 'Heavy Harry', was blanketed in a fall of hailstones. Two years later, much has changed, and much is about to change again. A local firm is currently fabricating the steel components that will soon be assembled to form the new Museum roof, which will be erected over Heavy Harry and other nearb...y exhibits to protect them from rain, hail, and various other forms of precipitation. These exhibits, a number of which were designed in Melbourne and built right here at Newport Workshops, are an incredibly important link to the area's proud industrial heritage and the early years of the 20th Century when Victorian Railways designed and built its locomotives and rolling stock almost entirely in-house. The new roof, announced by the Victorian Government in May 2019, will not only enable the heritage-listed 'Heavy Harry' to be properly conserved into the future, it will make the Museum a much more pleasant place for our visitors. As well as providing respite from the summer sun or the winter rain, there will be improved signage, improved access, and much better presentation of the exhibits beneath the roof, similar to the improvements seen following the construction of the first Museum roof back in 2017. Once the new roof has been constructed, the Railway Museum and the Hobsons Bay City Council will be working together to beautify the area between the roof and the Museum's front fence with a range of native plantings, including around eight new trees. The line of trees that extends along the front of the Museum site was originally planted in the early 1960s by Museum volunteers, including local identity, the late Murray Hill. Our new plantings are part of an ongoing long-term strategy is to ensure that as the older trees reach end of life in coming decades, there will be younger trees already well established to ensure that this green corridor of native flora is retained into the future.

01.01.2022 Today, some of our volunteers arrived to start work on readying the Railway Museum for reopening, and we're looking forward to welcoming more of our volunteers in coming weeks. We closed back in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and during the period of closure we've had a fantastic new roof built. It's a magnificent improvement, but we have a lot of work to get the grounds ready for our visitors, and it will be a few weeks yet until we are ready to welcome the general pub...lic back to the Museum. When we do, we'll announce the news far and wide! We were very happy to see some of our volunteers make their first visit back to the Museum. Our volunteer Lee, who many visitors would remember as the person working on the restoration of sleeping car 'Torrens', made his first visit back since March. Lee has been keeping busy while he has been away. He has built a simply stunning HO scale (1:87) model of Museum locomotive X36. He also made a beautiful wooden toolbox from timber recovered from bough cut from one of the trees on the Museum site. A truly beautiful piece of carpentry!