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The Commonwealth Railways NB class originated in a shipment of four
In 1957, the frame and wheels of NB30 were used as the basis of a small
The Commonwealth Railways NB class originated in a shipment of four 0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...
, gauge, saddle tank steam locomotives built by the Vulcan Iron Works
Vulcan Iron Works was the name of several iron foundries in both England and the United States during the Industrial Revolution and, in one case, lasting until the mid-20th century. Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and smithery, was a popular n ...
of Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the secon ...
, Pennsylvania. They were imported to Australia in 1916 for construction work at the naval base at Henderson, Western Australia
Henderson is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn.
History
The suburb of Henderson comprises land resumed by the Commonwealth Government in 1915 for defence purposes. A large naval base was planned by Admira ...
. Their tractive effort was 9500 pounds.
In 1925 two of them (builder's numbers 2532 and 2533) were acquired by the Commonwealth Railways
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975.
O ...
and placed in service on the Central Australian Railway
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...
as NB29 and NB30 respectively. After shunting for two decades at Quorn
Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin.
Quorn is sold as bo ...
, where they were nicknamed "pugs", the two locomotives were set aside. NB29 was written off in 1946 and scrapped in 1958. NB30 was written off in 1950.
Conversion to diesel – NB30
In 1957, the frame and wheels of NB30 were used as the basis of a small diesel-hydraulic
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
locomotive designed and built at Commonwealth Railways' Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
workshops.Specifications included power output of – from a General Motors model 6/71, bore x in stroke, 6-in-line, 2-stroke diesel engine – at 1700 rpm; maximum speed limit ; and a maximum axle load of 6 tons (6.1 tonnes). Other specifications are in the general arrangement diagram. Retaining its number, NB30 was initially used in recovering rails from the closed Brachina–Hawker section of the 
Central Australia Railway
The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...
, after which it was assigned to Quorn for shunting work. It was then transferred to Port Augusta for use as a workshops shunter, where it was withdrawn from service in 1972.
In 1979, NB30 was donated to the Pichi Richi Railway
The Pichi Richi Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in the southern Flinders Ranges of South Australia between Quorn and Port Augusta. For much of its length the line lies in the picturesque Pichi Richi Pass, where the line was complete ...
by the successor to the Commonwealth Railways, the Australian National Railways Commission
The Australian National Railways Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia that was a railway operator between 1975 and 1998. It traded as Australian National Railways (ANR) in its early years, before being rebranded as Australian ...
, whose chairman, Keith Smith, had been the Chief Mechanical Engineer who had overseen its design. , the heritage railway employed the locomotive on shunting duties.
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