The Silverton Tramway Y class was a class of

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...

and 2-6-2T

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 operated by the

Silverton Tramway Company Silverton may refer to: Places Australia * Silverton, New South Wales **Silverton Wind Farm *Silverton, South Australia Canada * Silverton, British Columbia South Africa * Silverton, Pretoria United Kingdom * Silverton, Devon, ...

of Australia.

History

Between 1888 and 1907 the

took delivery of eighteen

and two 2-6-2T locomotives from Beyer, Peacock & Co,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. One

James Martin & Co James Martin & Co was an Australian engineering company which progressed from making agricultural equipment to making railway locomotives. History James Martin & Co. was founded in Gawler, South Australia in around 1848 by James Martin as a ...

built example was purchased second-hand from the Tarrawingee Tramway.Y1
National Railway Museum Having commenced operations with hired

South Australian Railways Y class The South Australian Railways Y class was a class of narrow gauge steam locomotives operated by the South Australian Railways. History The Y class were numerically the largest class of steam locomotive operated by the South Australian Railwa ...

locomotives, the Silverton Tramway Company ordered four locomotives of the same design from Beyer, Peacock & Co. These were assembled in Gawler South Australia by James Martin's Phoenix Foundry, It had an option to on sell any that it deemed surplus to the

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...

, hence the original Y3 and Y4 passed without use. The Silverton Tramway Company notionally had 21 locomotives of this type, although three were never operated and only a maximum of 17 were owned at any one time with numbers recycled. Westinghouse air brakes were fitted to Y13, Y15 and Y16 from new with Y1 and Y11 retrofitted. Y1, Y6, Y8 and Y11 to Y17 were rebuilt with 180psi (originally 145psi) boilers with lead adhesion slabs added to the running boards. Three were

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are ...

between 1924 and 1926. They were superseded on main line duties by the A class from 1912 onwards, but many were retained for shunting and secondary duties around the

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

yards and mine sidings. The last was withdrawn in 1961.

Class list

Preservation

*Y1: at Sulphide Street Museum *Y6: at Mount Laura Homestead Museum *Y11: at Penrose Park, Silverton in September 1965 *Y12: at the

National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide Australia's National Railway Museum is the largest railway museum in Australia. More than 100 major exhibits, mainly from the South Australian Railways (SAR) and Commonwealth Railways and their successor, Australian National Railways Commissio ...

References

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Beyer, Peacock locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1888 Silverton Tramway Steam locomotives of New South Wales 2-6-0 locomotives 2-6-2T locomotives 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia