The Queensland Railways A10 Neilson class locomotive was a class of

0-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. While the first locom ...

steam locomotives operated by the

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

ways.

History

Overview

The A10 Neilson class comprised 13 locomotives. Eight were built in 1865 and 1866 by

Neilson and Company Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Park ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

for the Southern & Western Railway operating out of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

and another four for the Central Railway operating out of Rockhampton. One engine was also constructed for

Peto, Brassey and Betts Peto, Brassey and Betts was a civil engineering partnership between Samuel Morton Peto, Thomas Brassey and Edward Betts. They built a supply and casualty transport railway (Grand Crimean Central Railway) from Balaclava port to the siege lines sout ...

, a railway contractor building the line to

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

. This was later purchased by the Queensland Railway in 1876. All engines were fitted with

injectors An injector is a system of ducting and nozzles used to direct the flow of a high-pressure fluid in such a way that a lower pressure fluid is Entrainment (hydrodynamics), entrained in the jet and carried through a duct to a region of higher pre ...

instead of

feed pump A boiler feedwater pump is a specific type of pump used to pump feedwater into a steam boiler. The water may be freshly supplied or returning condensate produced as a result of the condensation of the steam produced by the boiler. These pumps ar ...

s when built. All of the Central Railway examples were later transferred to the Southern & Western Railway.

4D10 tank engine conversions

Four engines were converted to 4D10 class

2-4-4T In Whyte notation, a 2-4-4, or Boston-type, is a steam locomotive with two unpowered leading wheels followed by four powered driving wheels and four unpowered trailing wheels. The wheel arrangement was only used for tank locomotives. Equival ...

tank engines between 1887 and 1890.

20th century

Five engines survived the turn of the century although four of them were written off in 1902. N°3 continued in use shunting Bowen Jetty until 1914. It was then stored at

North Ipswich Railway Workshops North Ipswich Railway Workshops is a heritage-listed former Australian railway workshop at North Street, North Ipswich, Queensland. It was built from 1878 to 1980s. It is also known as the Workshops Rail Museum. It was added to the Queensland He ...

and restored to working order for the Railway Pageant in 1936. Afterwards it was preserved near Countess Street in Roma Street railway yard before being moved to Queen's Park at Ipswich in 1959. In the 1980s it moved to the North Ipswich Railway Workshops. N°6 was sold to Gibson & Howes in 1896 for use on their Wattawa line. It was reboilered in 1955 and continued to serve the company until 1965 when it was steamed from Bundaberg to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

for the

ways Centenary Celebrations, operating a reenactment of the first Queensland Railways service from

to Grandchester. It was retained in operational condition until 1969 when placed on display at the Redbank Locomotive Museum. In 1988, the

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) aims to foster an interest in the railways, and record and preserve many facets of railway operations. It had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, although the ACT divis ...

commenced a restoration of the locomotive with it being returned to traffic in May 1991 and today is part the Queensland Rail Heritage Fleet at the

Workshops Rail Museum The Workshops Rail Museum is a railway museum in Ipswich, Queensland, located within the former North Ipswich Railway Workshops. The museum Opening in September 2002 as part of the Queensland Museum Network, The Workshops Rail Museum tells the ...

.Information Sheet: Class A10 No. 6
Workshops Rail Museum

Class list

Preservation

*N°3 has been preserved in Queen's Park,

, it moved to the

in the 1980s *N°6 is preserved at the

in working orderA10 No 6
Australian Steam

References

External links

{{QueenslandLocos Neilson locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1865 A10 Neilson 0-4-2 locomotives 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia