South Australian Railways

Broad Gauge

Class Operators: South Australian Railways, Australian National, One Rail Australia

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 1971/72

Entered the Museum: January 2023

Length (over coupling points): 18.67 m (61 ft 3 in)

Class: 700

Class builders: AE Goodwin, Auburn, New South Wales

Number in class: 6

Number series: 701-706

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Provenance: South Australian Railways, Australian National, One Rail Australia

Tractive Effort: 69,916 lbs

Wheel arrangement: Co-Co

By December 1970, the New South Wales Government Railways took delivery of the first of forty DL
500G locomotives from AE Goodwin. The new locomotives were classified as the 422 class and were
the first 2nd generation Alco diesel locomotive to enter traffic in Australia. At the start of the 1970s,
the South Australian Railways (SAR) needed more locomotives and placed an order for six DL 500G
locomotives with slight modifications to the SAR’s operating requirements. These locomotives were
to become the 700 class, and they ended up becoming the last class of locomotives to be purchased
by the SAR.
The six 700 class locomotives were delivered to the SAR between June 1971 and March 1972, with
locomotives 700 to 702 being allocated to Broad gauge and locomotives 703 to 705 on Standard
gauge. The six locomotives were painted Regal Red and silver upon delivery, though the three
standard gauge units were quickly repainted into Mustard Pot livery to match the 600 and 830 class
diesels on Standard gauge.

When Australian National Railways (AN) took over the country lines and interstate operations in
South Australia in 1978, ownership of the 700 class was transferred to them. During their time
operating under AN, the 700 class were regularly gauge converted between Broad and Standard
gauge based on operational requirements. The first member of the class to be withdrawn was
Locomotive 702, when in 1994 it sustained extensive fire damage. 702 was then placed in store
pending work, but was later scrapped in 1997. With the sale of Australian National in 1997,the local
operations and locomotives were sold to Australian Southern Railroad which was eventually bought
out by major shareholder Genesee & Wyoming becoming Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA). In
2020 GWA was renamed One Rail Australia.

Locomotive 703 entered service with the South Australian Railways on 16th of December 1971 and
in 1975 it was involved in a major accident at Crystal Brook when the new Standard gauge railway
bridge collapsed during heavy rain and flooding. Locomotives 703 and 830 class diesel locomotive
No.868 made it across the bridge before it collapsed, while the second 830 class locomotive No.874
did not. Locomotive 703 was transferred to Australian National Railways on the 1st of March 1978
and was eventually sold to Australian Southern Railroad on the 1st of November 1997. In 2016
locomotive 703 and all remaining 700 class locomotives were stored. In 2022 One Rail Australia
donated Locomotive 703 to the National Railway Museum. It arrived in January 2023.

Narrow Gauge

Steam

Class operators: South Australian Railways

Entered service: 27th February 1890

Condition: Excellent

Entered the museum: 23rd September 1970

Length (over coupling points): 39’ 3.125’’ (11.97 metres)

Class: Y

Class builders: Beyer Peacock and Co., Manchester; Islington Works; James Martin and Co., Gawler

Number in class: 129

Ownership: History Trust of South Australia

Provenance: South Australian Railways

Total Weight: 47.75 tons (47,750 kilograms)

Tractive Effort: 13,289 lbs

Wheel Arrangement: 2-6-0

Withdrawn: 14.5.1970

The Y-class 2-6-0s constituted the largest class of locomotives on the South Australian Railways, 129 having been built between 1885 and 1898. The last of the series to go into service, No.179, was also the first locomotive to be built at the Islington Workshops.

The initial order was placed with Beyer Peacock and Co. of Manchester, England but, besides the two constructed at Islington, a large number were also built at Gawler by James Martin and Co. No.97 is a Beyer Peacock locomotive and carries builder’s number 3147 of 1889. It was placed in service on 27th February 1890.

The Y-class were a development of Beyer Peacock’s ‘Narrow-gauge Mogul’, and this type saw service in every colony in Australia with the exception of Victoria. In South Australia it became the standard narrow-gauge locomotive, serving on the Northern, Western and Southern Systems, and Eyre Peninsula.

Y97 was withdrawn on 14.5.1970, only a day after it had completed a special trip for the Australian Railway Historical Society to Eurelia and return. It was moved to the Mile End Museum on 23rd September 1970 and eventually to the Port Dock museum on 11th November 1988.

Narrow Gauge

Class operators: Silverton Tramway Company

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 1893

Entered the museum: 2.10.1965

Length (over coupling points): 39’ 3’’

Maximum Axle Load: 8 tons 6 cwt

Maximum Speed: 35 mph

Number in class: 19

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Provenance: Silverton Tramways Company

Total Weight: 47 tons 14 cwt

Tractive Effort: 16,500 lbs

Wheel Arrangement: 2-6-0

Withdrawn: 13th September 1964

To enable ore to be shipped from the fabulously rich line of lode at Broken Hill to the smelters then being established at Port Pirie, a company was formed to construct and operate a narrow gauge line between Broken Hill and the SAR’s railhead at Cockburn, via Silverton – a distance of 35 miles (56.35 km). Known as the Silverton Tramway Company (only colonial governments were permitted to operate railways) it became a highly successful venture surviving until 1970. At this time, as part of the project for completion of a standard gauge Transcontinental line between Sydney and Perth, a more direct route was built by the SAR between Cockburn and Broken Hill, bypassing Silverton.

When in 1888 the Company considered the purchase of its first locomotives, it made the logical choice of emulating the SAR’s preference for main line power and ordered from Beyer Peacock and Co. four 2-6-0’s identical to their Y-class. These also were classified Y and were the first of 19 units built by Beyer Peacock and placed in service between 1888 and 1907.

Y 12 was built in 1893 carrying builder’s number 3536, and saw just over 70 years of service. However, its major claim to fame was that it is believed to be the locomotive which was involved in the infamous Battle of Broken Hill, on New Year’s Day 1915. Y12 was hauling a picnic train to Silverton, when it was ambushed by two gentlemen who fired into the open trucks which were being used to carry the passengers. The ambush was related to First World War agitation. A number of passengers were killed.

Although the Silverton Tramway’s Y’s looked identical to those of the South Australian Railways when they were built, they were to end their days looking quite different. This was mainly because during their life they received very few alterations while the South Australian engines, on the other hand, were quite extensively modified.

The Y’s were superseded on the main line by the A class 4-6-0’s, but they were to continue to shunt for many years. They were popular engines and several lasted into the 1950s, still being preferred for shunting work, even after the advent of the large W-class engines. The last use of a Y on the Tramway was Y12 on 17th July 1961, the year that the diesels were introduced, but so popular were the engines that no less than three have been preserved – Y12, Y11 at Silverton and Y1 at Broken Hill. The last of the class to run was Y12, with a special train, on 13th September 1964. It was moved to the Mile End Railway Museum on 2 October 1965.

Broad Gauge

Class operators: South Australian Railways

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 1856

Entered the museum: 1977

Ownership: National Railway Museum

Withdrawn: 1977

The first exhibit encountered by visitors entering the Museum consists of two pairs of steam locomotive driving wheels mounted on a length of track laid with Brunel´s patent bridge rail and placed in front of the main door to the pavilion. This is historically the most important exhibit in the Museum’s collection for it dates from the very beginning of steam railway operation in South Australia, in 1856.

The wheels belong to one of the first three locomotives built for the Adelaide and Port Railway by William Fairbairn and Co., Manchester, England. Ordered by the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel, then Consulting Engineer for the railway, they were built to the 2-4-0T wheel arrangement and arrived at Port Adelaide in November 1855. Here they were erected and named Adelaide, Victoria and Albert. Later they were to be numbered 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Adelaide was the first to be assembled and ran a trial between Port Adelaide and Alberton at the end of January 1856. On 8th February an additional trial was run, this time to Adelaide, but the locomotive derailed twice at Morphett Street before successfully entering the station. After further trials the line was opened with due pomp and ceremony on 19th April. Thereafter all three engines saw regular service, venturing further afield as a new line was pushed north from Adelaide to Gawler and Kapunda.

In 1869 they were rebuilt as tender engines but, by 1871, No. 1 had been taken out of service, and the other two followed in 1874. At this time the South Australian Railways had begun the construction of narrow (3’ 6’’) gauge lines throughout the colony. There subsequently arose the necessity of transporting narrow-gauge locomotives and rolling stock over the broad-gauge to and from the workshops in Adelaide. Plans were drawn up for an ‘Engine Carriage Bogie Truck’, and the vehicle, which was given the number 1272, was manufactured by the Adelaide Locomotive Works in 1884. Of traditional Well Wagon pattern it was unusual in that, instead of normal bogies, the driving wheels and portions of the frames from two of the locomotives were used. It is possible that they came from Nos. 2 and 3, however no records have been found to support or disprove this supposition.

When classification letters were allocated to rolling stock in 1888, No. 1272 was classified WL. At some time during its career it also acquired the nickname The Crocodile, which eventually gained official recognition. It found considerable employment, the conversion to broad-gauge of the old Western System during the 1920s notwithstanding. In 1931 Islington Works created a similar vehicle, this time equipped with conventional bogies, which became WL8200, and 1272 was renumbered 8202. However, with the conversion to broad-gauge of the South Eastern System in the 1950s and the standardisation of the Port Pirie to Broken Hill line in the late 1960s, both vehicles were used less and less. No. 8202 was condemned on 2nd May 1977 and broken up, one bogie going to the Mile End Railway Museum and the other to Steamranger.

Narrow Gauge

Class operators: Silverton Tramway Company

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 4th October 1951

Entered the museum: 12.3.1970

Length (over coupling points): 61’ 11’’

Number in class: 4

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Provenance: Silverton Tramways Company

Total Weight: 97 tons

Tractive Effort: 21,760 lbs

Wheel Arrangement: 4-8-2

Withdrawn: July 1961

The third of the three Silverton Tramway engines to be preserved in the Museum is the large 4-8-2, number 25 of the Tramway’s class W. This design had originally been conceived by the Western Australian Government Railways, which had had 60 of their class W engines placed in service in 1951-2. The Silverton engines, of which four were built, varied from the Western Australian originals in the tender details and by the addition of a streamlined easing which covered the funnel and dome. All four engines were painted out in Cotswold green and were named after Directors of the Company.

Built by the Manchester company, Beyer-Peacock, these engines followed a tradition set by the Y’s and the A’s. In fact their building meant that every steam engine built for the Company was a product of Beyer-Peacock’s. All four engines arrived at Port Pirie on 4th October 1951, and were then railed to Broken Hill. For this trip W24 and W25 were steamed and these hauled the other two – W22 and W23.

In service these engines could haul 1,200 tons of ore, in contrast to the 800 tons that the A’s could manage, and this meant that they matched up well with the 400 class Garratts which were very shortly to be their counterparts on the South Australian Railways. In regular service they took over all roles from the A’s and were to be seen on both passenger and freight trains. They performed well for the next nine years until the 1960s, but by then some of the older engines were presenting problems and the mining companies were expanding their activities. These factors combined were sufficient to persuade the company that they should be looking to diesel power, and in 1960 they placed in service the first of the three diesel electric units.

This immediately rendered the W’s redundant, and between December 1960 and July 1961 all four were placed in store. After that time W25 was only steamed up again when it operated on special occasions. W25 is named H.F. (Gerry) Walsh.

Narrow Gauge

Steam

Class operators: South Australian Railways

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 1917

Entered the museum: 24.11.1970

Length (over coupling points): 54’ 0’’ (16.46 metres)

Class: T

Class builders: Islington Works; James Martin and Company, Gawler; Walkers of Maryborough, Queensland

Number in class: 72

Ownership: History Trust of South Australia

Provenance: South Australian Railways

Total Weight: 74.70 tons (74,700 kilograms)

Tractive Effort: 21,904 lbs

Wheel Arrangement: 4-8-0

Withdrawn: 18th May 1970

By 1903 the ore traffic on the line from Broken Hill was rapidly expanding and the diminutive Y-class locomotives were proving to be far too small for the heavy hauls. So a larger engine of the 4-8-0 wheel arrangement was designed, and four were ordered. T44, 45, 46 and 180 were built at Islington. The first, 180, appeared in 1903 and the other three later in 1907. Nicknamed Big Ben, these engines proved to be most successful, and a further 34 were ordered from James Martin and Company of Gawler and 40 from Walkers of Maryborough in Queensland.

The class remained dominant on the line for some half a century until the advent of the large Beyer-Garratts, which were to supplement rather than to displace the Ts. In all that time they remained the biggest power on all the South Australian narrow-gauge lines.

They did not remain solely on the Broken Hill line, but saw service also on the Port Lincoln Division, the South-Eastern narrow gauge lines and even the narrow gauge Commonwealth Railways line to Alice Springs during the Second World War. Between 1923 and 1949 five members of the class were converted to run on broad gauge Murray River lines, during which time they were designated as being the Tx class. The only narrow gauge lines on which they did not run were the branches to Glencoe, Beachport and Kingston.

By the 1950s the engines were looking very different from those that had emerged from the builders in the first two decades of the 20th Century. Large headlights had been added, the smokebox had been twice extended – the second time to incorporate a Cyclone spark arrestor – and the tender enlarged. By the end of their lives the tenders had become rather ungainly and towered above the engines, particularly on those engines which had been converted to burn oil, and an additional tank installed.

In the 1920s six of the Ts were sold to the Tasmanian Railways, but the bulk survived in South Australia right up to the 1960s. Indeed it was to be a T-class engine that was to haul the last regularly scheduled steam train to operate in South Australia on 9th January 1970.

The conversion from narrow to standard gauge of the main line from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was the death-knell of the class, although paradoxically it also gave them a last moment of glory. Right at the end of the narrow gauge days all the diesels were withdrawn from service to allow them to be converted to run on the new standard gauge line, and during this period the Ts and the Beyer-Garratts again reigned supreme on the line. However, on 18th May 1970 no fewer than 24 members of the class were condemned, and the final six followed a month later.

2 foot gauge

Class operators: Millaquin Mill

Condition: Excellent

Entered service: 1946

Entered the museum: 25th May 1981

Length (over coupling points): 21’ 3.5’’

Number in class: 13

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Provenance: Millaquin Mill, Queensland

Total Weight: 16.00 tons

Tractive Effort: 7,200 lbs

Wheel Arrangement: 0-6-2

Withdrawn: 1978

The sugar mills of Queensland are served by extensive networks of 2’ 0’’ gauge ‘Tramways’ which are now operated by diesel locomotives which, for the most part, have been built in Australia. However, they were once worked by a large number of diminutive steam locomotives, most of which came from the British builders John Fowler and Hudswell Clarke. The only Australian company to seriously attempt to enter this field in the years between the Wars was Perry Engineering of Mile End who supplied tank locomotives of the 0-4-2 and 0-6-2 types.

Skipper belongs to a group of thirteen 0-6-2Ts built between 1934 and 1952, and was manufactured by Perry in 1946, carrying works number 289. It was built for the Millaquin Mill at Bundaberg and was given road number 3. When displaced by diesel traction it was sent to the Qunaba Mill where it was given the name Skipper and renumbered 2. Written off in 1978 it remained in storage at the mill. Meanwhile the Mile End Railway Museum launched a project to acquire a Perry-built cane locomotive for its collection. The necessary funds were raised and Skipper was purchased, arriving at Mile End on 25th May 1981.

It was moved to the Museum on the former SAR locomotive transporter wagon WL8200, on 24th January 1989. It is also interesting to note that, of the 13 locomotives of this type built by Perry, only two have been broken up. The rest have been preserved around Australia and seven are in working order.

Broad Gauge

Steam

Class operators: South Australian Railways

Condition: Excellent

Ownership: History Trust of South Australia

Provenance: South Australian Railways

Designer: W. Thow (R class), T. S. Roberts (Rx class)

Class: Rx

Class Builders: Dubs and Co. Glasgow Scotland (6), James Martin and Co. Gawler (24), S.A.R. Islington Workshops (14), North British Locomotive Co. Glasgow Scotland (15), Walkers Maryborough Queensland (25)

Number in class: 84

Number series: 5, 9, 10, 15, 20*, 25*, 48, 55, 56, 91* – 96*, 102* – 107*, 138* – 153*, 155, 158, 160, 190 – 203, 206 – 235 (* originally built as R class)

Built by: Dubs and Co., Glasgow, Scotland

Entered service: 29th March 1886

Condemned: 28th October 1966

Entered the museum: 28th September 1966

Length (over coupling points): 58’ 12’’ (17.98 metres)

Total Weight: 88 tons 12 cwt (88,609 kilograms)

Maximum Speed: 60 mph (96.54 km/h)

Wheel Arrangement: 4-6-0

Driving Wheels Diameter: 54’’ (1371mm)

Maximum Axle Load: 11 tons 8 cwt (11,406 kilograms)

Boiler Pressure: 175 lbs psi

Cylinders: 2x outside – 18’’ x 24’’ (457mm x 609mm)

Tractive Effort: 21,420 lbs

Coal Capacity: 7 tons 15 cwt (7,762 kilograms)

Grate Area: 20.27 square feet (1.88 square metres)

Water Capacity: 4120 gallons (18,729 litres)

Mileage: 1,312,446 miles (2,112,177 kilometres)

In 1886 the South Australian Railways placed in service six 4-6-0 locomotives built by the Scottish builder Dubs and Co. These were the first members of the R-class and later, after rebuilding, the Rx-class which eventually amounted to 84 engines, the most numerous class on the broad gauge. No.93, which had been given builder’s number 2142 of 1885, was one of them and entered service on 29th March 1886.

Used primarily for goods haulage over the steeply graded main south line they were soon also hauling the Intercolonial Express between Adelaide and Murray Bridge after the South Australian and Victorian Railways had been joined at Serviceton in January 1887.

Thirty Rs were built between 1885 and 1895 but, between 1899 and 1913, all were rebuilt with larger Belpaire boilers and were reclassified Rx. No.93 was reissued to traffic after rebuilding on 4th November 1910. As built all were equipped with six-wheel tenders but, with the introduction of the first of the Islington built Rx-class engines in 1909, eight-wheel tenders were fitted. No.93 retained its six-wheel tender until the early 1950s when it received a bogie replacement from an engine previously written off. In this form it ran until 1966 when, on 28th September, it was placed in the Mile End Railway Museum. It was formally written off on 28th October of that year.

The Rx-class was a most successful design, and handled all main line traffic until displaced by Fred Shea’s Big Power engines under the Webb administration of the 1920s. Thereafter they were relegated to secondary duties over branch lines, shunting in freight yards and occasionally hauling local passenger trains.

Broad Gauge

Steam

Class operators: South Australian Railways

Condition: Excellent

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Provenance: South Australian Railways

Class: P

Class Builders: Beyer-Peacock and Co Manchester England (6), James Martin and Co. Gawler (14)

Number in class: 20

Number series: 21, 22, 70 – 75, 115 – 126

Built by: James Martin and Co. Gawler

Entered service: 12th June 1893

Withdrawn: 17th December 1956

Entered the museum: 24th August 1964

Length (over coupling points): 28’ 5’’ (8.66 metres)

Total Weight: 33.70 tons (33,700 kilograms)

Wheel Arrangement: 2-4-0

Driving Wheels Diameter: 60’’ (1524mm)

Maximum Axle Load: 12 tons 7 cwt (12,609 kilograms)

Boiler Pressure: 145 lbs psi

Cylinders: 2x inside – 16’’ (406mm)

Valve Gear: Stephenson

Tractive Effort: 10,517 lbs

Water Capacity: 600 gallons (2727 litres)

Coal Capacity: 1.5 Tons (1500 kilograms)

Grate Area: 14.67 square feet (1.36 square metres)

Mileage: 1,305,876 miles (2,101,603 kilometres)

Maximum Speed: 60 mph (96 km/h)

In 1861 Beyer Peacock and Co., Manchester, England, built for the West Midland railway a 2-4-0 tank locomotive that was to be the forerunner of many of this type built, with few modifications, over the next 25 years. It was a most successful design, represented in Australia by the P-class of the South Australian Railways and the F351-class of the New South Wales Railways.

Suburban trains over Adelaide’s Port and North lines had been hauled by the small and underpowered E and M class tank locomotives before the advent of the P-class in 1884. Twenty were built, the first six coming from Beyer Peacock and the remainder from James Martin and Co., of Gawler. No.117 belongs to the latter series then known as the ‘Colonial Ps’. It carried builder’s number 57, and was placed in service on 12th June 1893. Along with the rest of the class it would have hauled suburban passenger trains until displaced by the F-class 4-6-2s in the early 1900s.

An unusual service worked by the P-class was over the old Clapham branch, then the southern suburban terminus. Consisting of two to four carriages and a four-wheel brake-van, these trains were known as Clapham Dodgers. They ceased running when the suburban service was extended to Eden Hills and the branch-line closed, in 1919.

When the South Australian Railways took over the Glenelg Railway Company’s two lines in 1899 the Ps displaced the Company’s small 4-4-0 and 0-4-4 tanks and, along with the K-class 0-6-4Ts, hauled all trains until these lines were closed in 1929. Thereafter most were used for shunting at Port Adelaide, and hauling Port Line goods trains, with occasional runs on Semaphore passenger trains. A couple were also stabled at Mile End and one at Tailem Bend as roundhouse shunters. With the arrival of the 800-class diesel electrics in 1956, all of the P-class were withdrawn.

No.117 is the sole survivor of the class and the only locomotive in the Museum’s collection with inside cylinders. It was the first locomotive to enter the Mile End Railway Museum on 24th August 1964, and was placed at the Port Dock Museum on 29th October 1988.

Narrow Gauge

Class operators: Commonwealth Railways/Australian National Railways

Entered service: 20.3.1955

Condition: Good – missing some mechanical parts

Provenance: Commonwealth Railways and Australian National

Ownership: Port Dock Station Railway Trust

Horsepower: 925

Engine type: Sulzer 6LDA28

Traction Motors: 4

Gear Ratio: 65:14

Fuel capacity: 750 gallons

Total Weight: 60 tons

Length (over coupling points: 46 ft. 4 in

Number in clas: 14

Bore and stroke: 11 in. x 14.2 in.

Entered the museum: 1985

Maximum Axle Load: 10 tons

Maximum Speed: 50 mph

Tractive Effort (continuous): 15,300 lbs @ 15.25 mph

Tractive Effort (starting): 22,400 lbs

Bogie centres: 7.3

Wheel Arrangement: A1A-A1A

Withdrawn: Pre 1980

Built by: Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, United Kingdom

Class Builders: Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, United Kingdom

Condemned: 24.09.81

Cylinders: 6 in line

Designer: Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, United Kingdom

Height: 3.7

Mileage: 1,509,948 Km

Model: NSU Class

Number series: 51 to 64

Width: 2.8

The NSU class was purchased by the Commonwealth Railways to replace steam locomotives on the narrow gauge Central Australian Railway, with some of the class serving also on the North Australia Railway narrow gauge system.

The Commonwealth Railways placed a contract for 14 locomotives in early 1951 with the Birmingham Carriage and Wagon Company, England. Each unit would use a Sulzer engine, have a Crompton Parkinson main generator and traction motors, be capable of operating on both narrow and standard gauge and be delivered by the end of 1952.

All 14 NSU’s entered service on the Central Australian Railway, and suffered some minor problems with air and oil filtration equipment, in addition to some voltage regulator repairs done by the component manufactures, but generally they worked well. As work on the standard gauge line progressed to the stage where trains could work over it to Brachina, mainline steam working was almost discontinued, with the majority of services being handled by the NSU’s.

Following the opening of various sections of the Marree standard gauge line, traffic requirements permitted the transfer of two units to the North Australia Railway. These two NSU’s were able to handle all traffic on the North Australia Railway for almost the next 10 years. Traffic levels dropped dramatically after the closure of the Frances Creek iron ore mine in 1974, allowing both units to be returned to the Central Australian Railway.

All 14 locomotives were transferred to Australian National Railways in 1975 and were gradually withdrawn from service, following the closure of the Central Australian Railway in 1980.