View source for Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company

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{{Cleanup|reason=Article makes no sense and rambles on about various members|date=September 2017}}
The '''Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company''' was a railway company in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia. It was established on 8 February 1853 to build a railway from [[Melbourne]] to [[Echuca]] on the Victorian-NSW border and a [[Williamstown railway line|branch railway to Williamstown]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4790941 |title=MELBOURNE, MOUNT ALEXANDER, AND MURRAY RIVER RAILWAY COMPANY. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=24 March 1853 |accessdate=17 June 2013 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The company struggled to make any progress and on 23 May 1856, the colonial government took over the company and it became part of the newly established [[Department of Railways (1858–71)|Department of Railways]], part of the Board of Land and Works. The Department of Railways became [[Victorian Railways]] in 1859.
Construction of the Bendigo line commenced in 1858, but this private consortium also met with financial difficulties when it was unable to raise sufficient funds, and was bought out by the Victorian colonial government.<ref>''National Trust Masonry Bridges Study'' Gary Vines, 2010, National Trust of Australia (Victoria)</ref> The design work was then taken over by Captain [[Andrew Clarke (British Army officer, born 1824)|Andrew Clarke]], R. E., [[Surveyor-General of Victoria]], with bridge designs completed by Bryson and O'Hara<ref>'The true history of the design of the Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway', [[Brian Harper (engineer)|Brian Harper]], The [[Institution of Engineers, Australia]], 2004 Nov</ref> The contract for the first stage of the line from Footscray to Sandhurst (now Bendigo), was let to [[Cornish and Bruce]] for £3,356,937.2s.2d ($6.714 million) with work commencing on 1 June 1858. Completion of the permanent way was to be by 31 July 1861.<ref>[http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/HRP.Melbourne%20to%20Bendigo%20&%20Echuca%20Railway  ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA Melbourne to Bendigo & Echuca Railway Heritage Recognition Ceremony]</ref>
Clarke appointed William O’Hara to design bridges and viaducts, while William Edward Bryson stated to the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly on Railway Contracts that he had designed most of the large bridges on the line. Clarke clearly influenced the design of the railway in setting the standards for the line. However, this was also a very costly undertaking, which stretched the colonial finances and this approach was later abandoned for more economic light lines in later Australian Railways. William Edward Bryson was described as a Civil Engineer in 1857 when he was a member of the [[Philosophical Institute of Victoria]]. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Victoria 1859-60 and employed at the "Government Railway Office". He published
"Resources of Victoria & their development" in 1860 in the Royal Society's Transactions.<ref>Bryson, William E 1860 "On the resources of Victoria and their development" Reprinted from the Royal Society's Transactions, Read before the Institute, 5 October and 16 November 1859 (Melbourne : Mason & Firth)</ref>
==References==
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{{s-ttl|title=Melbourne, Mount Alexander and Murray River Railway Company
|years=8 February 1853 – 19 March 1856}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Victorian Railways]]}}
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{{FormerVictorianRailCompanies}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne, Mount Alexander And Murray River Railway Company}}
[[Category:Defunct railway companies of Australia]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1853]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1856]]
[[Category:Australian companies established in 1853]]
[[Category:1856 disestablishments in Australia]]