Newport Workshops

Overview of the 'West Block' section of the workshops, with the clocktower and admin block to the left and Steamrail depot to the right.

The Newport Railway Workshops is a facility in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, Victoria, Australia, that builds, maintains and refurbishes railway rollingstock. It is located between the Williamstown and Werribee railway lines.

History

Plans for a workshop at Newport started in the 1860s, to replace the temporary Williamstown Workshops but nothing came of it. It was not until 1880 that work begun, when the Victorian Railways purchased annexes used at the 1880 Melbourne Exhibition and erected one of them at Newport, calling it the Newport Carriage Workshops when it began operation in 1882.^[1]

Construction of the permanent workshops commenced in 1884, and was completed in 1889.^[2] Although the earlier carriage workshop closed at this time, it reopened in 1895 to manufacture signal equipment. The first carriages built by the workshops were completed in 1889, but locomotives were manufactured by the Phoenix Foundry in Ballarat, the first locomotive being built in 1893.^[2] The main elements of the workshops are a central office block and clock tower, the 'East Block' for carriage and wagon works, and 'West Block' for heavy engineering and locomotive building.^[3] Expansion followed in 1905–1915, and 1925–1930. During World War II the workshops were turned over to military production, with the rear fuselage, and empennage of Bristol Beaufort bombers being built there.^[4]

At the peak of operation it was one of Victoria's largest and best-equipped engineering establishments, with up to 5,000 employees on site.^[5] The workshops had its own cricket ground, and in the 1920s the game of Trugo is said to have been invented by workers on their lunch hour.^[1] In the 1980s the original segments of the workshops were removed from everyday use, and modern workshops built along the eastern side of the site, which remains in use today.

Tenants

In the EDI Rail section, BL class, G class, and N class diesel locomotives are undergoing overhauls

Current revenue operations are carried out in the eastern section of the workshops by EDI Rail, who carry out work including locomotive and carriage maintenance, and diesel engine, bogie and wheelset overhauls;^[6] for customers including V/Line. The workshops is also provided with the only broad gauge underfloor wheel lathe in Victoria. A section of the workshops is also leased to Siemens for maintenance of their Siemens suburban trains.

The original 1880s workshops have been maintained for heritage uses. The 'West Block' area are occupied by a number of railway preservation groups such as Steamrail Victoria and R707 Operations, while the 'East Block' has been retained by the Department of Infrastructure for the storage of disused trams and other rail rollingstock.^[3] The ARHS Railway Museum is located south of the workshops, near North Williamstown railway station.

References

South end of Newport Workshops, EDI Rail section

1. ^ ^{a b} "3.4.3 Railway Workshops". Hobsons Bay Heritage Study - Volume 1b: Thematic Environmental History. Hobsons Bay City Council. October 2003. http://www.hobsons.vic.gov.au/Files/Volume_1b_Thematic_Environmental_History.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "ARHS Railway Museum: History 1839 - 1900" (HTML). ARHS Railway Museum. http://www.railwaymuseum.org.au/history.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "The Railway Heritage Centre of Victoria (Newport Workshops)" (PDF). ARHS Railway Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20070829062909/http://www.arhsvic.org.au/RHCV+proposal.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 
4. ^ Lee, Robert (2007). The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd. p. page 166. ISBN 9780522851342. 
5. ^ "Public transport history" (HTML). Department of Infrastructure. http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/doi/internet/transport.nsf/allDocs/RWPE06934B7A6094C844A256AFD001C4975?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 
6. ^ "Newport (Melbourne)" (HTML). EDI Rail. http://downeredi.com/Default.aspx?aCateId=1036. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 

External links

• Photos: Newport Workshops - tour of the EDI Rail section of the Workshops

Further reading

• The Newport Story Doenau, G Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin November;December, 1979 pp249-272;274-288

• Reminiscences of an Apprentice at the Victorian Railways' Newport Workshops 1959-1963 Clark, A.J. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February, 1996 pp35-55

• Experience at Newport Workshops 1941-1946 Whalley, S.C. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, November, 2002 pp403-406

Coordinates: 37°51′06″S 144°52′55″E / 37.8516°S 144.8819°E / -37.8516; 144.8819