The Victorian Railways O class was a class of goods locomotives operated by the
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...
between 1862 and 1922, built by various builders.
History
Victorian Railways initially numbered passenger and goods locomotives separately, the engines were delivered with numbers 26–31, 52–63, 70–81, 88–89. This system was changed before these locos entered service to odd numbers for goods locomotives and even numbers for passenger locos with these locomotives taking the odd numbers 19–81, 127–149.
This odd and even system remained in use until 1912. In 1886, they were allocated to Class O.
Production
The first order for six locomotives was placed with
Slaughter, Gruning & Co. (builder's numbers 460–465) in April 1861 and twelve locomotives with
Robert Stephenson & Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines.
Famous early locomotiv ...
(B/n 1441–1452) in January 1862. The locomotives built by Slaughter, Grüning (B/n 231–237, 261–266) arrived in Port Phillip June 1862, and the Robert Stephenson ones in October 1862.
In June 1865, an order for six more locomotives was placed with
Beyer, Peacock & Company
Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...
(B/n 553–558) which arrived May 1966. In 1870, a further order for six more locomotives was placed with
Yorkshire Engine Company (B/n 153–158) which arrived March 1971. The last imports were ordered from Beyer Peacock, two in July 1871 (B/n 1040–1041) and three in 1878 (B/n 1709–1711). The imported locos had an average cost of £3919-14-10 for each.
Seven locomotives were locally built by the
Phoenix Foundry
The Phoenix Foundry was a company that built steam locomotives and other industrial machinery in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Ballarat, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Over 30 years they built 352 locomotives for the Victorian Rail ...
of Ballarat in 1878/9 (B/n 48–54) and a further two by the Victorian Railways at the
Williamstown Workshops in 1879 and 1881 at an average cost of £4142-15-0 for each local loco.
Regular service
Before entering regular service, O129 was exhibited at the
Melbourne International Exhibition
The Melbourne International Exhibition is the eighth World's fair officially recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and the first official World's Fair in the Southern Hemisphere.
Preparations
After being granted self-go ...
in 1880
.
In 1894, they were allocated; ten at Melbourne; fourteen at ; ten at and ten at
.
Design improvements
Over the years they were fitted with various alterations to the cabs. There were also various upgrades over the years; with constant improvements to safety — these including things like updates to safety valves (and domes), smokeboxs and chimneys (with spark arrestors), cowcatchers, and brakes.
There were subsequent reboilerings which raised the working pressure to then to , while their cylinder bore was increased from when rebuilt after 1896. These changes led to considerably increased
tractive effort
As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion.
In railway engineering, the term tr ...
.
Accidents
* 15 October 1862 - O25 derailed after hitting spoil bank at
* 1870 - O57 derailed at
* 1872 - O51 boiler exploded at , locomotive was repaired and returned to service
* 20 August 1873 - O23 boiler exploded at , locomotive was repaired and returned to service
* 1 September 1876 - O49 derailed at Melbourne Yard
* 4 September 1876 - O53 involved in accident at
* 13 February 1877 - O43 derailed between and due to floods
* November 1877 - O53 involved in accident at
* 5 January 1879 - O149 ran away Melbourne Yard
* April 1879 - O65 broke leading axle at
* August 1879 - O65 collided with
V17 in Melbourne Yard
* 11 July 1881 - O135 involved in accident on
North East line
The North East MRT line (NEL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line in Singapore. Operated by SBS Transit, it is the shortest MRT line at . The line runs from HarbourFront station in southern Singapore to Punggol station in the no ...
* 28 August 1883 - O79 collided with
L20 at
* January 1884 - O27 collided with
S215 at Warrenheip Bank
* 2 April 1884 - O49 boiler exploded at , locomotive was repaired and returned to service
* 9 July 1884 - O35 broke crank axle
* November 1884 - O145 collided with
A202 in Melbourne Yard
* February 1885 - O31 collided with
R315 in Melbourne Yard
* November 1887 - O51 boiler exploded at Elphinstone, locomotive was repaired and returned to service
* 22 August 1894 - O71 collided with
R477 at
* July 1895 - O69 collided with
B88 at
Spencer Street
* October 1895 - O19 ran off road at
* 15 March 1897 - O141 involved in accident on
Mordialloc line
* April 1905 - O67 in shops after accident
* January 1907 - O27 involved in accident at Williamstown
* 3 February 1910 - O149 derailed with
DD616 at
Demise
Some were used as a stationary engines at
Newport Workshops; O31 from 24 December 1908, five (O35, O39, O41, O53, O61) from 19 May 1909, and finally the boiler from O149 was used in a forge at Newport from 21 August 1916
.
In 1912, O57's frames were sold to Mr Freeman of for £423, while it's tender was sold to
Kerang & Koondrook Tramway for £60.
On 19 May 1909, O63 converted to stationary engine and sold to Mr Arbuthnott of (along with the boiler of
R173) and was used in PS Arbuthnot
.
.
The remainder were withdrawn between 1904 and 1921
.
An unknown boiler from either a O or
B class was used until 1941 to power refrigeration plant at Spencer Street where ice was made for T vans.
Fleet summary
References
*
*
Specific
External links
VPRS 12903/P0001, 302/01- Drawing of O class steam locomotive 0-6-0 c1862
VPRS 12903/P0001, 302/02- Drawing of O class steam locomotive 0-6-0 c1862
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 4749- Steam locomotive no. 25, goods 0-6-0 type built by Slaughter, Grunning & Company, Bristol, 1861. Later known as O class locomotive
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1568- O class steam locomotive no.43 on turntable
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1062- O class steam locomotive side view
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1756- O class steam locomotive no.53
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1778- O class steam locomotive no.143
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 2855- Old steam locomotive O class no.25
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1105- O class steam locomotive no.47 at Golden Square station
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 5005- O class steam locomotive no.81 on goods train at North Melbourne
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1077- O class steam locomotive perspective view engine no.27
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 3742- O class steam locomotive goods main line 64tons and 4cwt and 2qrs tractive power 11560lbs 1870
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1943A- O class steam locomotive numbers 69
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1043- O class steam locomotive no.23 perspective view
VPRS 12800/P0001, H 1249- Derailment Epsom 13th of February 1877 O class locomotive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victorian Railways O Class 1861
0-6-0 locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1861
Scrapped locomotives
Broad gauge locomotives in Australia
O class 1861
Avonside locomotives
Beyer, Peacock locomotives
Phoenix locomotives
Robert Stephenson and Company locomotives
Williamstown Workshops locomotives
YEC locomotives
Freight locomotives