South_Australian_Railways_600_class

South Australian Railways 600 class (steam)

South Australian Railways 600 class (steam)

Class of Australian 4-6-2 locomotives

This article is about the South Australian Railways steam locomotive class. For the South Australian Railways diesel locomotive class, see South Australian Railways 600 class (diesel).

The South Australian Railways 600 class was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives operated by the South Australian Railways.

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History

The 600 class were part of an order for 30 steam locomotives[note 1] placed with Armstrong Whitworth, England, in 1924, as part of the rehabilitation of the state's rail system overseen by railways commissioner William Webb. The 600 class design was based on the USRA Light Pacific, although modifications were made by SAR's Chief Mechanical Engineer, Fred Shea, including those necessary to fit South Australia's tighter loading gauge, which was lower than that of the United States. They arrived in Adelaide in 1926.[1]

609 was named Duke of Gloucester after hauling the Duke's Royal Train in 1934 and so became Australia's first "royal" engine.

The entire class received upgraded boilers and front ends from the late 1930s onwards, and was reclassified as the 600C class. They were also fitted with large smoke deflectors over their lifetime. Ten locomotives of the South Australian Railways 620 class were built at Islington Railway Workshops in 1936–1938, to a similar design.

All examples of the 600 class were withdrawn between 1955 and 1961. None were preserved.[1]

Many 600 class locomotives were based at Tailem Bend; lines to the east were relatively flat, allowing higher speeds made possible by the class's large driving wheels

Class list

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Notes

  1. [N 1]
    The other classes of locomotives were the 500 class and 700 class.

References

  1. [1]
    Oberg, Leon (1984). Locomotives of Australia 1850s-1980s. Frenchs Forest: Reed Books. p. 148. ISBN 0 7301 0005 7.

Further reading
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