The Tasmanian Government Railways M class is 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 Tasmanian Government Railways.

History

On 12 March 1952, the Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) took delivery of ten M class branch line locomotives from Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns,

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

. The locomotives were similar to the Indian Railways YB class. They were allocated to operate on the North-Eastern and Western lines and at Hobart. However with the TGR having already commenced dieselisation with the X class, some of the lines intended for M class operation had already been converted. Hence in 1957, four were fitted with smaller driving wheels recovered from withdrawn Australian Standard Garratts enabling them to operate heavier trains over the steeply graded North-Eastern line.M & MA Class
Rail Tasmania As they fell due for overhaul, they were withdrawn from 1960, with the last removed from traffic in 1975.

Preservation

All members of the class have been preserved to an extent, with four locomotives seeing further use on heritage trains.

Namesake

The M class designation was previously used by the M class, the last of which was withdrawn in 1931.

References

{{Reflist Railway locomotives introduced in 1952 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns locomotives Steam locomotives of Tasmania 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia 4-6-2 locomotives