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1919 Restored by the Glenreagh Mountain Railway |
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1919 approaching Tallawudjah Creek during a Glenreagh
Mountain Railway operating day on 6 January 2007.
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Builder |
Beyer Peacock
& Co, Manchester |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
1761 of 1878 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
0-6-0 |
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No. in class |
77 |
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Originally
supplied from 1877 as main-line freight locomotives, the A(93)
/ (Z)19 class locos were progressively superseded by more powerful 2-6-0 and
later 2-8-0 freight locomotive types, however they found a niche as
light-line motive power on steeply graded mountain branches such as the
Batlow / Kunama, Oberon and Dorrigo lines, as well
as shunting roles such as the extensive sidings and wharf lines at the former
Darling Harbour yard. Preserved
locomotive 1919 was first issued to traffic as A 114 of the A(93) class, becoming 1919 of the (Z)19 class at the NSWGR’s
1924 renumbering scheme. Among its
travels around the New South Wales, it was allocated to South Grafton for use
on the Dorrigo line during the 1950’s and features in contemporary photographs
and recollections of Dorrigo line operations in Ron Preston’s excellent book “Tender
into Tank” which documents the various (Z)19 class
operations (and their 2-6-4T tank engine cousins, the Z(20) class) around New
South Wales. 1919 has
had an interesting and varied preservation career. She was one of the last steam locomotives in
NSWGR service when finally retired from Darling Harbour shunting duties
(after some earlier periods of storage) around 1972/3. 1919 features in one of the webmaster's
early railway memories; together with 3075T it ran a NSWRTM rail tour to
Picton and Moorebank on 16 April 1972 as the last steam train on the
Moorebank / Holsworthy branch. On a
family outing we intercepted this train at Liverpool and a series of photographs
in the family album show the arrival of the train and engine repositioning
operations as 1919 was readied to take the train solo onto the Moorebank / Holsworthy
branch. I clearly recall flustering my
father with a series of "why why why" questions as he explained to his 3 year old son
that 3075T was too heavy for the branch's bridge over the Georges River, and
thus 1919 would take the train alone. 1919 was initially preserved for the Lachlan Vintage Village at Forbes. It was stored for a few years at Parkes before reaching the Lachlan Vintage Village, being plinthed as the gatekeeper in 1979 and later painted a gaudy sky blue livery with silver dome and chimney. The Lachlan Vintage Village was an interesting museum featuring relocated historical buildings, a recreated Aboriginal camp and other displays relevant to the region. From a railway perspective it included a 2’ gauge line using ex-sugar industry locomotives and a standard gauge railway which ringed the site. Unfortunately the Lachlan Vintage Village did not succeed as an ongoing concern and the railway assets were progressively sold off. Standard Goods loco 5367 was sold to the Lachlan Valley Railway, the ex-Sugar industry locomotives passed into private hands and the remaining standard-gauge steam locos 1919 (on gate duty), 3112 and Beyer-Garratt 6042 went to auction in November 1986. 1919 and 6042 were purchased by the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum and 1919 was road hauled to Dorrigo, joining the collection of DSR&M exhibits stored there. 1919 later
passed to the Glenreagh
Mountain Railway, whose focus is the restoration of the lower portion of
the Dorrigo branch from Glenreagh to Lowanna, and was transferred to their Glenreagh
West base in 2000. Following overhaul,
1919 returned to operation in July 2004 and ran tourist trains over the GMR’s
restored section of railway from Glenreagh West to Tallawudjah Creek, which
was a fitting return given 1919’s allocation to the Dorrigo line during the
1950’s. Glenreagh Mountain Railway
operating days often coincided with community market days at Glenreagh West
and the webmaster enjoyed such a trip on 6 January 2007 (as shown in several
photos on this page); at that stage the GMR trains were running frequently
and filled to capacity with visitors from the adjacent markets. Unfortunately GMR operations have since been
suspended while the organisation works to meet new regulatory requirements but
hopefully this setback will soon be overcome, allowing the GMR to restart
operations and extend their line over Tallawudjah Creek, up the escarpment and
through the No.1 & 2 Tunnels towards Lowanna. In the meantime 1919 is stored at Glenreagh
West depot; I understand it is nominally serviceable but requires (at least) full
mechanical and boiler inspection and documentation before it can be
recertified for traffic. For more general information about the A(93) / (Z)19-class locomotives, refer to the page for sister 1905. Wikipedia also provides further information and technical details for the A(93) / (Z)19-class. |
Happy days on the Glenreagh Mountain Railway as another trainload of visitors approach the halt at Tallawudjah Creek.
These trains ran full as the Glenreagh markets were operating at the other end of the line and attracting large crowds. 6 January 2007
1919 approaches Tallawudjah Creek as a lone S-truck sits in the paddock on the left.
A scanned photo of 1919, recently arrived at Dorrigo in approximately 1987.
It is still wearing the sky blue livery it received when the gate guardian at the Lachlan Vintage Village.
This view of 16 April 1972 shows 1919 on a tour train at Liverpool.
References
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a |
"A
Compendium of New South Wales Steam Locomotives" compiled by Alex Grunbach, published by the Australian
Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, 1989. |
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b |
Kramer, J. 'The Dorrigo Steam
Railway & Museum - an Illustrated Guide', published by the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum, 1987. |
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c |
Preston, R.G. ‘Tender into Tank’, published
by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, 1984. |
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d |
Webmaster's
observation or comment |
Page updated: 18 April 2014
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