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No.7 ‘Meteor’ / N 244 Remnants at Leneva |
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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.
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Builder |
Newcastle upon Tyne |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
1184 of 1858 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
2-4-0WT |
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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. |
This State Archives historical view of No.7 ‘Meteor’ / N
244 gives context to the remaining components.
References
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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. |
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b |
Information provided by Ned Johnson via
email, 28 July
2019. |
Page updated: 27 February 2022
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