Posts Tagged ‘north’

C13 Baldwin Class

Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Total Number of Engines Built 2
First Engine Built 1879
Last Engine Built 1879
First Engine Written Off 1900
Last Engine Written Off 1902

Notes

These small engines were ordered for the Great Northern Railway. When they arrived from America it was considered that the Southern & Western Railway had a greater need and so they never reached their intended destination. They were tiny machines with only four wheeled tenders. One was used in the Ipswich district and the other was put to use on the Main Range where its load was only 75 tons.

N° 42 was transferred to Bundaberg Railway in 1882 where it became (second) N°1. In 1900, it was sold to Gibson & Howes and continued to work at Bingera Mill until 1946. Eventually N° 43 was considered too small to be useful and was withdrawn from service in 1899 but was not written off until 1902.

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.

Abbreviations

S&W – Southern & Western Railway based on Ipswich
BR – Bundaberg Railway based on (North) Bundaberg
Baldwin – Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia USA

Beyer-Garratt Class

Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Total Number of Engines Built 30
First Engine Built 1950
Last Engine Built 1950
First Engine Written Off 1968
Last Engine Written Off 1969
Number of Engines in Class on the Books as at:
31/12/50 31/12/60 31/12/66 31/12/67 3/12/68 31/12/69
30 30 30 8
Number of Engines in Class in Service as at:
31/12/67 31/12/68 7/10/69
2 1

Notes

The initial plan had been to use these engines on the proposed air-conditioned Mail Trains that were being designed at the time. This never eventuated, although they did regularly haul the “Midlander”, mainly between Emerald and Bogantungan for some years. They were used on the Rockhampton Mail and Sunshine Express in the early 1950s.

The first ten engines were constructed at Beyer Peacock & Co Limited Works in Manchester UK. Owing to the number of orders they had on hand, Beyer Peacock (BP) contracted Societe Franco Belge de Materiel du Chemins de fer, Raismes, France (FRB)to build the remaining twenty.

They were painted Midland red and had chrome yellow lining with large QR monograms on the sides of the front tank and bunker. Unfortunately this attractive livery easily discoloured particularly as a result of priming. The engines were not regularly cleaned when relegated to goods train working in latter years and their appearance rapidly deteriorated.

Originally trialled on the Brisbane – Toowoomba route, they were soon withdrawn from this section due to problems with limited clearances in the tunnels. They were used extensively on North Coast Line between Brisbane and Rockhampton. By 1956, this working had become restricted to mainly north of Bundaberg. They did not work north of St Lawrence on the NCL. On the Central Line they initially ran between Rockhampton and Emerald but from 1957 this was extended to Bogantungan.

A few were attached to Mayne until 1955 and some at North Bundaberg until 1956, when all were allocated to Rockhampton. In later years they worked Moura coal trains via Mount Morgan, prior to the opening of the ‘short line’ to Gladstone. One of their last regular tasks was on limestone trains between Tarcoola and Gladstone. Increasing numbers of diesels saw mass withdrawals of these engines. Twenty two were written off in June 1968.

They were subject to much positive publicity when introduced but failed to live up to all expectations. They were attributed with saving 19,500 miles of assistant and goods engine running on the Bundaberg – Rockhampton – Emerald sections between October 1950 and June 1951. Steaming difficulties were encountered with South Queensland coals; however they performed well on Blair Athol coal. The boilers had a tendency to prime. Limited coal and water capacity caused worries. General overhauls cost about three times those for a B18¼.

They had a number of unique features (for QR steam engines) including Ajax air operated butterfly fire doors, Hadfield power reversers, speedometers and also flow meters; the latter being fitted to the class in 1955.The outer bogies and inner trucks had roller bearings but the coupled axles has plain bearings. Several engines received fabricated stove pipe chimneys to replace the original cast ones that had been damaged.

N°1009, preserved as a static exhibit, was taken into Ipswich Workshops in 1993 and restored to working order. Subsequently due to a leaking fused plug, it has been out of service for quite some time.

* Test weighing proved some engines to be 11 tons over this design weight with 11TAL

B17 Class

Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Total Number of Engines Built 21
First Engine Built 1911
Last Engine Built 1914
First Engine Written Off 1950
Last Engine Written Off 1960
Number of Engines in Class on the Books as at:
31/12/00 31/12/10 31/12/20 31/12/30 31/12/40 31/12/50 31/12/60
21 21 21 18

Notes

These were the largest non superheated six coupled engines to operate in the state. The class was introduced when it was proposed to increase the size of the Sydney Mail (via Wallangarra). They were originally used for this train and mail trains between Brisbane and Rockhampton. By 1930s, with the availability of superheated engines they were relegated to lesser duties. Four engines were attached to the Central Division during World War 2 and they worked as far north as Bowen. Upsurge of traffic during those hostilities caused them to again be pressed into heavy main line passenger work. In their final years they were restricted to slow goods and shunting trains. Like many saturated engines, they were heavy on coal and water. They were generally unpopular with crews particularly with poorer coals and heavy loads. Superheating was trialled on two engines, N°678 and N°610, in 1917 but proved unsuccessful, apparently due to problems lubricating the slide valves. Superheaters were removed when the engines were reboilered between 1929 and 1931. The class contained a number of unusual features. The safety valves were contained in a small dome mounted behind the large regulator dome. There was a large gap between the second and third sets of coupled wheels. One standard Sellers injector was fitted on the fireman’s side whilst the other was a Davies and Metcalfe combined injector and clack valve mounted on the boiler back plate. They were the first engines to be fitted with what became the standard QR whistle for the next 35 years. Scrapping of the class commenced in 1950 and the last two engines in service, N°689 and N°690, were written off in November 1960.

Directional Running of Trains in QLD

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Main lines

Main Line: UP to Toowoomba, DOWN to Roma Street.

Southern Line: UP to Wallangarra, DOWN to Toowoomba.

South Western Line: UP to Dirranbandi, DOWN to Warwick.

Western Line: UP to Cunnamulla, DOWN to Toowoomba.

Great Western Line: UP to Quilpie, DOWN to Westgate.

North Coast Line: UP to Roma Street, DOWN to Cairns.

Central Western Line: UP to Winton, DOWN to Rocklands

Moura line: UP to Gladstone, DOWN to Moura

Goonyella line: UP to North Goonyella, DOWN to Hay Point

Great Northern Railway:

Branch lines

Ebenezer branch: UP to Ebenezer, DOWN to Yarrowlea

Millmerran branch: UP to Millmerran, DOWN to Wyreema

Jandowae branch:

Glenmorgan branch:

Wandoan branch:

Kingaroy branch:

Monto branch:

Boundary Hill branch:

Biloela branch:

Callide branch:

Goovigen branch:

Theodore branch:

Brisbane Suburban Area:

Gold Coast Line (Beenleigh Line): UP to Robina, DOWN to Roma Street.

Cleveland Branch: UP to Cleveland (and Fisherman Islands), DOWN to Park Road.

Yeerongpilly-Corinda Branch: UP to Corinda, DOWN to Yeerongpilly.

Acacia Ridge Branch: UP to Acacia Ridge, DOWN towards (Salisbury Junction).

Main Line: UP to Rosewood, DOWN to Roma Street.

Box Flat branch: UP to Box Flat/Swanbank, DOWN to Bundamba

North Coast Line: DOWN to Caboolture, UP to Roma Street.

Exhibition Loop: UP to Roma Street, DOWN to Mayne Junction.

Ferny Grove Branch: DOWN to Ferny Grove, UP to Bowen Hills.

Pinkenba Branch: DOWN to Pinkenba, UP to Eagle Junction.

Airport Branch: DOWN to Domestic, UP to Airport Junction.

Shorncliffe Branch: DOWN to Shorncliffe, UP to Northgate.