Locomotive No. 1 – On the Move
Locomotive No.1 hauled the first passenger train in New South Wales on the line between Sydney and Parramatta in 1855. It is one of the most significant objects in the Powerhouse Collection relating to the history of New South Wales and has been in the museum's possession for well over a century.
It was designed by James McConnell and built in England by Robert Stephenson and Co of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Locomotive No.1 is significant in British railway history as it is a very rare surviving McConnell-designed goods express locomotive of the early 1850s and believed to be the only example of its type in the world.
After it was retired it went to a railway workshop in Eveleigh, called The Rotten Row, where old engines were stored awaiting reconstruction or final condemnation. It was later refitted with parts of other engines of its class and gifted to the museum on 8 May 1884 by the Commissioner for Railways Sydney.
Locomotive No.1 was initially displayed in the Agricultural Hall in the Domain behind Sydney Hospital. In 1893 it was then housed in a small building behind the museum’s second home in Harris Street Ultimo (the current TAFE NSW site across the road from Powerhouse Ultimo).
In the late 1970s it underwent an extensive restoration and conservation program. When its parts were stripped down, cleaned and polished the individually stamped numbers revealed they were predominantly Locomotive No.1 parts.
The Second Class Carriage was found derelict after it had been transformed into a workman’s van in 1961. It was totally restored as a second class carriage for static display.
From 1988 to 2024 Locomotive No.1 and tender were displayed with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class carriages in a permanent exhibition at Powerhouse Ultimo.
The exhibition consisted of four separate Powerhouse Collection objects, which while displayed together, were acquired separately.
On 18 July 2024 Locomotive No.1, tender and carriages were relocated to Powerhouse Castle Hill where they will be exhibited until works are complete at Ultimo.