Jennifer Pittorino
The Newport Railway Museum is currently experiencing a revival following a change in management, which Secretary John Hawthorne said is the latest in a series of positive changes that have occurred since the museum changed ownership in May 2020.
“The site is about to construct a 567-square-metre extension of its main roof canopy as part of a major site improvement,” he said.
“The expanded cover roof will enable several historic trains to be protected from the weather, including an Art Deco buffet car once used on the famous Spirit of Progress express, and a steam locomotive that represented a transformative change in the haulage of freight in Australia.”
Amidst the closure of the museum by the previous operator during the COVID pandemic, a group of volunteers formed their own not-for-profit organisation and offered to purchase the business.
They then negotiated with the site owner, VicTrack, to transfer the lease on the land and the historic locomotives and carriages in the museum collection, almost all of which are state-owned.
President Nick Hewitt said a lot of people thought they had rocks in their heads, taking it all on.
“We saw an opportunity to make some positive changes, to protect these important historic exhibits, and to make them available for the community to enjoy.”
Nick said that the many thousands of people who visit the museum each year also helped to make the project possible.
“Every dollar we make from ticket and merchandise sales gets ploughed back into conserving the museum collection and improving the site for our visitors,” he said.
