Newport Railway Workshops under threat from VicTrack, volunteers say

Heritage Victoria said it was assessing an application to include additional rolling stock objects but that heritage laws couldn’t prevent VicTrack and other parties accessing the site.

A Heritage Victoria spokeswoman said the Newport Railway Workshop was a “reminder of how significant the railways were to Victoria’s industrial and manufacturing industries.”

“We are working with VicTrack to assess the condition of the buildings at Newport Railway Workshops and address urgent works,” said the spokeswoman.

The council has asked VicTrack for a conservation management plan for the entire site, an extension of the current heritage overlay, and a master plan for the site. However, it did not receive any assurances this would happen.

“What we want to do is make this a working railway heritage site that includes a museum where people are able to come off the street any day of the week and look at the activity and trains,” said Hemphill.

A spokeswoman for VicTrack said it was “actively” preserving the site and had offered funding to the Hobsons Bay Men’s Shed to restore parts of the site.

“We are actively preserving the heritage listed assets at Newport, and works that we undertake in the Newport precinct are done with the approval of Heritage Victoria where required,” the spokeswoman said.

“We have recently provided funding to the Hobson’s Bay Men’s Shed group, so they can restore the heritage-listed clocktower and surrounding gardens.”

The Newport Railway Works is Victoria’s largest steam train storage facility and is where Puffing Billy Railway locomotives and carriages were made.

Noah Clancey, head of operations at Steamrail Victoria, which maintains the eight steam locomotives and 40 carriages at Newport, said the government should be thankful volunteers did the arduous task of maintaining the historic trains.

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“We basically provide them a service,” Clancey said. “I don’t think the government wants the responsibility and cost of supporting vintage trains and stock.”

The group’s popular train tours regularly book out and carry patrons on railway lines across the state.

“Our trains can go on the mainlines, where Metro and VLine can go, and we do tourist trains to Geelong and Ballarat and even have a snow train to Gippsland,” he said.

Despite the popularity of the old trains, Steamrail Victoria has previously had to fight government plans to push it off the site, after its lease ended.

A VicTrack spokeswoman said the group was offered a five-year lease and committed to supporting the volunteers into the future.

“We will work with the groups operating from Newport on their long-term options, as increasing speed and frequency of train services on the surrounding network is delivered, along with modern signalling and communications requirements,” she said.

But Steamrail Victoria said a five-year lease is too short and rejected the new strict lease conditions.

“We want a 21-year lease which is the standard for rail groups,” Clancey said. “The new lease would also have us maintain the workshop buildings that we don’t own.”