MRWA B Class
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The MRWA B class was a class of
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s built by
Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...
in
Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...
, England, for the
Midland Railway of Western Australia The Midland Railway of Western Australia (MRWA) was a railway company that built and operated the Midland line in Western Australia. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Although having its headquarters in London, it had no association ...
(MRWA). The class's
wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...
was
4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...
.


Service history

The nine members of the B class entered service in 1891. Withdrawals began in 1929, but the five longest serving units continued working on the MRWA, mainly as shunting engines, from then until the 1950s.


Preservation

One B class locomotive, no B6, has been preserved. It is the only ex-MRWA steam locomotive still in existence. After being withdrawn by the MRWA in 1956, B6 was acquired by the then municipality of Geraldton, and put on display in a Geraldton park. In 1995, ownership of B6 was transferred to the then
Shire of Swan The City of Swan is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area of Western Australia. It is in the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, eastern metropolitan region of Perth and includes the Swan Valley (Western Austra ...
, and in 1999 the locomotive was moved to the former
Midland Railway Workshops The Midland Railway Workshops in Midland, Western Australia, were the main workshops for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) for over 80 years. History The first railway workshops in Western Australia were located at Fremantle an ...
, for storage in the custody of
Rail Heritage WA Rail Heritage WA is the local trading name of the Australian Railway Historical Society (Western Australian Division) Inc. History The Western Australian branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society was formed in February 1959. In the 19 ...
. In 2010, following a renewal of interest by the
City of Geraldton-Greenough The City of Geraldton-Greenough was a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth on the Indian Ocean. It covered an area of , and its seat of government was the town of Geraldton. In ...
in rail history, B6 was moved back to the Geraldton area, for intended eventual display at a proposed railway museum at Walkaway.


See also

*
List of Western Australian locomotive classes This is a list of Western Australian locomotive classes, being classes of locomotive that have worked on railways in Western Australia. The majority of Western Australian steam locomotive classes were operated by the Western Australian Governm ...
*
Locomotives of the Western Australian Government Railways The Western Australian Government Railways (usually abbreviated to WAGR) operated many unique steam, diesel and electric locomotive classes. Often suffering from lack of available funds the WAGR locomotive fleet often consisted of locomotives f ...


References


External links

{{MRWA Locomotives 4-4-0 locomotives Hawthorn Leslie and Company locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1891 B class Locomotives of the Midland Railway of Western Australia 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives