The South Australian Railways 600 class was a class of
4-6-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...
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
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 ...
.
History
The 600 class were part of larger order for 30 steam locomotives placed with
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and a ...
, England in 1924 as part of the rehabilitation of the state's rail system being overseen by railways commissioner William Webb. The 600 class design was based on the
USRA Light Pacific
The USRA Light Pacific was a USRA standard class of steam locomotive designed under the control of the United States Railroad Administration, the nationalized railroad system in the United States during World War I. This was the standard light pa ...
, although modifications were made by SAR's Chief Mechanical Engineer Fred Shea to allow them to fit South Australia's tighter
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
. They arrived in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in 1926.
609 was named ''
Duke of Gloucester
Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...
'' after hauling the Duke's Royal Train in 1934 and so became Australia's first 'royal' engine.
The entire class received upgraded boilers and front ends from the late 1930s onwards and was reclassified as the 600C class. They were also fitted out with large smoke deflectors over their lifetime. Ten locomotives of the
South Australian Railways 620 class
The South Australian Railways 620 class was a class of 4-6-2 steam locomotives operated by the South Australian Railways.
History
The completion of the South Australian Railway (SAR) broad gauge route between Adelaide and Port Pirie created a ...
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.
600
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600 ( DC) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 600 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...