National Steam Centre - Home of the Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club

Last Thursday we were pleased to welcome Michael Galea MP, Member for South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, and his Office Manager, Eliza, to the our Club. Club Secretary Chris guided Michael and Eliza through the Museum, highlighting the remarkable diversity of the collection and explaining how the Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club is really "seven or eight clubs in one." From steam engines, tractors and stationary engines to maritime heritage, model railways, blacksmithing, restoration workshops and members' own collections, there is something to interest visitors of every age and background. The visit also showcased the vital work of our volunteers in preserving Australia's industrial heritage and making it accessible to the community.

MSTEC sincerely thanks Michael for taking the time to visit and for recognising the Club's importance as a centre for heritage preservation, education, tourism and community enrichment. Support from our elected representatives helps raise awareness of the valuable contribution volunteer organisations like ours make to preserving Victoria's history for future generations.

Another busy day of testing at our Club for the Monash Rail Express team (https://monashrailwayexpress.com/) as they do their final tests and shakedowns before they pack up their locomotive Wallaby and prepare to compete in the IMechE Railway Challenge in the UK on the weekend 27 - 28 June 2026.
Teams are required to design and manufacture a 1/5 scale, miniature 10¼” inch gauge railway locomotive in accordance with a set of strict rules and a detailed technical specification.
Our Club's miniature railway is 12" gauge and so one of the team's first challenges was to work out how to allow their locomotive to run on our track.
We've been so happy to be able to support them along the way and it's really satisfying to see them all working together as a team and getting things sorted. MSTEC wishes them all the best and we look forward to catching up when they return.

A busy day at our Club last weekend with a group of our members making the most of the fine weather to split timber up for our various wood fired boilers as well as the team from Monash Railway Express (MREx) doing some more testing ahead of their event in June in the UK. Good luck to the MREx team!

Wow, what a show! The Federation of Veteran, Vintage & Classic Vehicle Clubs had their annual picnic at our Club on Sunday, 26 April. It was hosted by the Dandenong Valley Historic Car Club and with the perfect Melbourne weather our grounds were full as were our car parks.
It was amazing to see the diversity of cars on show and there was something there for everyone. One thing that struck me as I was walking around was the beautiful colours on many of the cars, not something that we see much of these days.

One of the rewarding things that our Club does is to take machines from our collection along to local events to display as part of their event. This week it’s the Hunter Valley Steamfest in Maitland, NSW and one of our members has taken our 1937 Marshall Steam Roller along to support their event. They even got the chance to drive it down the main street tonight 😎 Thanks to our members who have made the time and effort to take this amazing machine along. The last photo is a 3” : 1’ scale miniature of the same Marshall roller.

Wow. What an amazing three days. The weather was perfect and there was a steady stream of visitors across all three days of our Rally.
As always the support from visiting clubs and exhibitors makes our grounds come alive and there is something there for everyone to enjoy.
All of our treasures are back in the sheds, the grounds have been packed up and we’re all unwinding and enjoying what we have all achieved. As with any good weekend ours ended with pizza 😎

A constant stream of arrivals today at the Club as well as the buzz of activity that always happens before our annual rally. The weather is looking great, the grounds are looking great, heck even my Fordson is looking great! Come on down 😎. Gates open at 10am.

People often ask what is the oldest machine at the Club (and I should know the answer to that!) but this would have to come close I think.

This Waterous Fireproof Champion portable from 1883 is owned by one of members and it’s well on its way to looking like new. It has a new boiler and still needs a bit of work before it is ready to run. It will be on display at Scoresby Steamfest this weekend.