The South Australian Railways 520 class is a class of

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...

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 former

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 ...

Need

During the war years in the early 1940s, the

(SAR) had a desperate need for additional tractive power on increasingly growing troop and supply trains and with the combined need for quick acceleration and high speed running on the flat and generally straight mainlines to the north of Adelaide to

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

, as well as power "under the belt" for the long , 1-in-45 (2.2%) graded slog up the Adelaide Hills to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, a new locomotive design was required by the SAR. With this in mind, the 520 class was commissioned, combining the better features of the earlier 500 and

620 __NOTOC__ Year 620 ( DCXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 620 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era bec ...

class locomotives.

Design

The class used the

configuration of the modified 500B class, but was also designed for work on

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

s with light rail with a reduced tender load. The considerable weight of the locomotive was spread over eight axles, four driving and four in the leading and trailing trucks, yielding the necessary light axle loading for operation over the aforementioned territory. The 520s used this to the fullest, their normal mainline stamping grounds being on fast track express services on the Pirie line, namely the East-West Express, but also serving upon many of the

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina. It is linear in layout s ...

mixed and radiating branchline trains. The only lines that they were restricted from running on were those laid with very light rail. The class featured extravagant streamlining, in the style of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's T1 in the United States. The original streamlining was more closely based on the T1, and class members 520-522 were fitted with such. Members 523-531 were built with a narrower front profile, attributed to by the "crown" of grill around the chimney front. The earlier streamlined model had a lower front, resulting in a squat chimney profile extended from an otherwise graceful, albeit useless, streamlined casing. During their service life, some of the class lost the cowling around their front

buffer beam A headstock of a rail vehicle is a transverse structural member located at the extreme end of the vehicle's underframe. The headstock supports the coupling at that end of the vehicle, and may also support buffers, in which case it may also be k ...

, a move which simplified maintenance.
National Railway Museum The 520 class locomotives were noted for their impressive displays of power and speed. They featured specially balanced driving wheels that while only in diameter, were designed for operation, and were also the first locomotives in Australia to feature Timken Company, Timken

roller bearing In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, grooved rings called races. The relative m ...

s on all axles. Classleader 520 attained a speed of between Red Hill and Port Pirie when it entered service on 10 November 1943. Surviving test records show the locomotive was capable of developing an

indicated horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of Power (physics), power, or the rate at which Work (physics), work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two commo ...

output of at 70 mph while hauling a load. A total of 12 locomotives were built at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.830 class, as repairs, namely to boilers, were required. The 520s were the first class in South Australia, and possibly Australia, to facilitate the use of completely welded boiler assemblies, an idea adopted by their designer Frank Hugh Harrison after a trip to the United States of America. The long boiler tubes of the 520 class required the blower to be on while in yards, sidings and stations, and while drifting, to prevent blowback or entry of smoke into the almost entirely closed cab. On these occasions, the locomotives emitted a quiet "whispering" sound.

Preservation

Two have been preserved: *520 at

SteamRanger The SteamRanger Heritage Railway is a long broad gauge tourist railway, formerly the Victor Harbor railway line, South Australia, Victor Harbor railway line of the South Australian Railways (SAR). It is operated by the not-for-profit South ...

, was operational until 1998, when necessary repairs to the boiler, namely the removal of oil burning equipment, and a rusted tender frame, sidelined the engine. it was being restored to operational condition. *523 at the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

in Port Adelaide, had been used extensively as a tour engine, failing on its final farewell

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 ...

trip at

Balhannah Balhannah is a town in the Adelaide Hills about 30 km southeast of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It was established in 1839 as a farming community by James Turnbull Thomson, who built the first hotel. The town soon grew to inco ...

in the late 1960s.

Class list

Fiction

In the 2016

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

movie

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross), and with music by Henry Mancin ...

, a character named

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name) Shane is mainly a masculine g ...

was based on the SAR 520 Class. Shane returned in Series 22 where he was voiced by

Shane Jacobson Shane Jacobson (born 18 March 1970) is an Australian actor, director, writer, and comedian, best known as the "Dunny Man" for his performances as the eponymous character Kenny Smyth, a plumber working for a portable toilet rental company, in the ...

References

External links

{{South Australian Railways locos, state=expanded 520 Railway locomotives introduced in 1943 Streamlined steam locomotives 4-8-4 locomotives Broad gauge locomotives in Australia Passenger locomotives