Williamstown Workshops

Summary

The Williamstown Workshops was the first railway workshop operated by the Victorian Railways, located in the Melbourne inner western suburb of Williamstown.

The workshops in 1870

History

edit

The workshops opened in 1858 in four or five temporary buildings at Point Gellibrand,[1][2] for the assembly of engines and carriages imported from England for the first government owned railways in the state. Other buildings were soon added, with seven locomotives built there,[3] the first being number 100, a 2-4-0 passenger engine completed in 1872.[4] As early as 1860 plans were made for new workshops but nothing came of these,[3] until the 1880s when railway management described the workshops as inadequate and moves were made for new workshops at Newport. By 1889 the new shops were open, and Williamstown was closed.[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ "VR timeline". www.victorianrailways.net/. Mark Bau. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
  2. ^ "Shipbuilding and Industry". Hobsons Bay Libraries. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  3. ^ a b "3.4.3 Railway Workshops" (PDF). Hobsons Bay Heritage Study - Volume 1b: Thematic Environmental History. Hobsons Bay City Council. October 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  4. ^ Lee, Robert (2007). The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-522-85134-2.
  5. ^ Lee, Robert (2007). The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-522-85134-2.