The Williamstown Workshops was the first railway workshop operated by the 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...

, located in the 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...

 inner western suburb of Williamstown

Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Williamstown had a population of 12,733....

.

History

The workshops opened in 1858 in four or five temporary buildings at Point Gellibrand, 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, the first being number 100, a 2-4-0

2-4-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels....

 passenger engine completed in 1872. As early as 1860 plans were made for new workshops but nothing came of these, 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.