No.7 ‘Meteor’ / N 244

Remnants at Leneva

 

A cannon in a field

Description automatically generated with low confidence

Fixer-upper for a brave restorer: the main frames and one wheelset of N 244.

This view is believed to date from the 1970’s when the remains were at Koetong.

Builder

Robert Stephenson & Co,

Newcastle upon Tyne

Builder’s Number & Year

1184 of 1858

Wheel Arrangement

2-4-0WT

 

This locomotive was originally No.7 ‘Meteor’ of the Melbourne and Hobson’s Bay Railway Co. With a build date of 11 May 1858, it was one of the earliest steam locomotives to work in Victoria. The assets and operations of the Melbourne & Hobson’s Bay Railway Co were later taken over by the state government, and ‘Meteor’ became N 244 on the Victorian Railway’s roster.

N 244 was sold in May 1886 to a railway construction contractor, Jonathan Falkenham, for the sum of 800 Pounds. At the end of its usefulness as a railway locomotive, the boiler and one wheelset were adopted for static use in a sawmill. Circa 1906 the unwanted remaining components were dumped in a river, where they subsequently languished for decades.

It seems that the remaining components – comprising the main frames and one driving wheelset - were salvaged from their watery grave by the early 1970’s, being placed together at Koetong in a rough approximation of their original positions. The locomotive remains later moved to Leneva, near Wodonga, and may be in private ownership.

Information about these interesting remains is scarce, so contributions of further details or photographs are very welcome.

A picture containing text, black, white, old

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This State Archives historical view of No.7 ‘Meteor’ / N 244 gives context to the remaining components.

References

a

‘Steam Locomotives of the Victorian Railways, Volume 1: The First Fifty Years’

by Norman Cave, John Buckland & David Beardsell.

Published in 2002 by the Australian Railway Historical Society

(Victorian Division), Melbourne.

b

Information provided by Ned Johnson via email,

28 July 2019.

Page updated: 27 February 2022

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