ARHS Newport Railway Museum

AHRS Newport Railway Museum (WIP)[]

The ARHS 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.

Following a safety audit by VicTrack, the landlord and owner of most of the exhibits, the museum closed in February 2010. 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On 16 June 2020, it was announced that the ARHS had withdrawn from the operation of the museum and a new group, Newport Railway Museum Inc., formed by museum volunteers, had entered into an arrangement with VicTrack to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.

In 2016, a project was announced to construct a 693 m2 (7,460 sq ft) roof canopy over four wooden passenger carriages alongside E236, T94, and F176, three of the oldest steam locomotives on the site; 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'. A 1,112 m2 (11,970 sq ft) 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.

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

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:

seventeen steam locomotives
eight diesel locomotives
two 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[]

No.	Type	Build date	Manufacturer	Arrival Date	Notes
176	F	1880	Phoenix Foundry	1961	Oldest surviving steam locomotive in Victoria
94	T	1884	Phoenix Foundry	1961	Built as T 265. Renumbered as T 94 in 1924. Modified with flangeless wheels and coupled to W Class tender
236	E	1893	David Munro & Co	1961	Built as E 506. Renumbered as E 236 in 1923. Also the last surviving Victorian Railways E Class with a 2-4-2 wheel arrangement
369	E	1892	David Munro & Co	1972	Built as E 494. Renumbered as E^E 494 in 1919. Renumbered as E^E 369 in 1923. Renumbered as E 369 in 1931
108	Y	1889	Phoenix Foundry	1964	Built as Y 395. Renumbered as Y 412 in 1924. Renumbered as Y 108 in 1951
268	D4	1910	Newport Workshops	1961	Built as 790. Renumbered 268 in 1923. Renumbered as D⁴ 369
604	D2	1912	Beyer, Peacock and Company	1961	Built as D^D 557. Renumbered D^D 580 in 1925. Renumbered D^D 795 in 1926. Renumbered D² 795 in 1929. Renumbered D² 604 in 1951
635	D3	1912	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1961	built as D^D 597. Renumbered D¹ 597 in 1930. Renumbered D³ 635 in 1939
884	A2	1913	Newport Workshops	1964	Built as A² 848. Renumbered A² 884 in 1929
995	A2	1916	Newport Workshops	1964
10	C	1922	Newport Workshops	1963
36 'Gerald A Dee'	X	1929	Newport Workshops	1961	Named Gerald A. Dee in preservation after the VR driver who secured its survival and proposed the creation of a railway museum.
220 'Heavy Harry'	H	1941	Newport Workshops	1961	The largest locomotive in Australia
165	K	1941	Newport Workshops	1969
432	N	1951	Newport Workshops	1967	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
704	R	1952	North British Locomotive Company	1968	Was displayed at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and retained its commemorative plaques
556	J	1954	Vulcan Foundry	1973	Wears the historically significant plates of scrapped J559, the last steam locomotive to enter service on the VR

Diesel locomotives[]

No.	Type	Build date	Manufacturer	Arrival Date	Notes
243	W	1960	Tulloch Limited		Last Victorian Railways W Class in existance with the original Mercedes engine.
255	W	1960	Tulloch Limited
216 / 2	F	1952	Dick, Kerr & Co.	1972	Built as SEC 2, renumbered to F 216, renumbered back to SEC 2
308	S	1958	Clyde Engineering
56	V	1959	Newport Workshops	1980s
211	F	1953	Dick, Kerr & Co.		Was SEC 3
83	B	1953	Clyde Engineering
137	Y	1965	Clyde Engineering
367	T	1964	Clyde Engineering

Electric locomotives[]

Image	No.	Type	Build date	Manufacturer	Arrival Date	Notes
	1102	E	1928	Newport Workshops