The Tramway Museum Society of Victoria Incorporated (TMSV) owns a large collection of trams from Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, Adelaide, and Sydney as well as preserved buses and other work vehicles.

The TMSV was founded in 1962 with the aim of establishing an operational tramway museum.

The surrounding railway precinct was leased the following year to with the goal to establish a "transport museum".

The museum has 1 km (1 mi) of electric track, which was previously a part of the Heathcote Junction to Bendigo railway line.

The Tramway Heritage Centre has a tramway electric supply substation, two running sheds, an exhibition shed/workshop - that was used as part of the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, various buildings for the storage of un-restored trams, cable tram cars, motor vehicles and a visitors centre.