B11 Baldwin Class

Notes

These small engines were ordered for the Great Northern Railway. They had remarkable careers with numerous changes in ownership.

The first one to be assembled in Townsville was sold to a contractor before it had even entered service. It was later repurchased only to be again resold to the same contractor. Repurchased again it was then sold to Cairns-Mulgrave Tramway only to be returned when tramway assets were acquired under the North Coast Railway Act.

The second engine had a similar career being sold to a contractor and later repurchased. It was later shipped to Bowen and then sold to the Bowen Proserpine Tramway only to return when the tramway assets were acquired under the North Coast Railway Act. Finally it was sold to Mount Cuthbert Mine.

Their small coupled wheels restricted their speed but made then suitable for construction work and shunting. Cairns N°3 was hired for a time to John Robb, the contractor who built the Cairns - Kuranda Railway.

In 1889 locomotives and rollingstock were consolidated into one rollingstock register. This resulted in most items, except those operating on the original Southern and Western Railway (from Ipswich), being renumbered. Numbers shown are state (or former S & W) numbers. Those in brackets are former numbers of individual railways.