Locomotive No. 2 Skipper

Millaquin Mill

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Withdrawn: 1978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.

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76 Lipson Street
Port Adelaide
South Australia  5015
Australia
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Phone: 8341 1690

The National Railway Museum acknowledges the Kaurna people as the traditional owners and custodians of the Adelaide Plains. We honour and respect their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this country. We aim to respect the cultural heritage, customs and beliefs of all Indigenous people.

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