The Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company built a railway line from North Melbourne

North Melbourne railway station

North Melbourne is a railway station located on the northern edge of the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. The station is the point through which pass the west and north-west bound Craigieburn, Flemington Racecourse, Sydenham, Upfield, Werribee and Williamstown suburban railway...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 to Essendon in 1860. It subsequently built a branch line

Branch line

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...

 from Newmarket

Newmarket railway station, Melbourne

Newmarket is a railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in the suburb of Flemington, on the Craigieburn railway line. Newmarket is classed as a Host station and is in Metcard Zone 1.-Facilities:...

 to Flemington Racecourse in 1861. The company was taken over by the Government of Victoria

Government of Victoria

The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...

 in 1867 and it became part of Victorian Railways

Victorian Railways

The Victorian Railways operated railways in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations...

.

Motive power

One steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 built for the Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company in 1862 was sold unused to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's Canterbury Provincial Railways

Canterbury Provincial Railways

The Canterbury Provincial Railways were an early part of the railways of New Zealand. Built by the Canterbury Provincial government to the broad gauge of 5 feet 3 inches , the railway reached most of the Canterbury region by the time the province was abolished in 1876...

. Upon arrival in New Zealand, it became the country's first locomotive to operate in revenue service. Withdrawn in 1876, its frame subsequently returned to Australia when it was purchased by the South Australian Railways

South Australian Railways

South Australian Railways built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 to the incorporation of its non-urban railways into the Australian National Railways Commission in 1975, together with the former Commonwealth Railways and the former Tasmanian Government Railways...

and was used as part of the SAR's locomotive No. 54, which operated until 1904.