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4D10 No.10 Boiler displayed at Caboolture |
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4D10-class loco No.10 at Fairymead Mill in 1956.
By this stage it had a 2-4-4T configuration.
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Builder |
Neilson & Company, Glasgow |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
1209 of 1866 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
2-4-2T |
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This interesting relic traces its origins back to one of
the Queensland Government Railways' earliest locomotives, No.10 of the A-10
(Neilson) class, which was built in 1866 by Neilson & Company, Glasgow as
a 0-4-2 tender engine and entered service with the Queensland Government
Railways in November 1867. This locomotive was rebuilt at Ipswich Workshops
in 1889 as a 2-4-2T configuration, receiving a new boiler at this time. It
was reclassified to the 4D10 class. In 1898 the boiler was removed during overhaul and
replaced with another. Locomotive 4D10 No.10 went on to have an interesting
and varied career, working as the Ipswich works shunter from 1900 to 1902,
and subsequently as shunter on the Townsville jetty wharf. It was sold by the
QGR in 1906, passing to the ownership of Hyne & Son for use on their
Fraser Island timber tramway. In 1922 it was sold to Fairymead Mill, where it
was broken up in 1956 at the age of 90 years. The 1889-built boiler removed from 4D10 No.10 in 1898 was
repaired for stationary use and sent to Caboolture. Here it was situated in a
steam locomotive water supply pump facility established at the Lagoon Creek
railway bridge, which was commissioned on 6 February 1901. It was a
saturated-steam boiler with the barrel constructed in three rings,
hot-rivetted over 3-inch seams, fitted with a copper inner firebox and 88
brass tubes. In 1913 the boiler was decommissioned and replaced by
another pumping facility on Lagoon Creek. The copper firebox and brass tubes
were removed for scrap. The boiler shell later fell into Lagoon Creek and
remained submerged there for around 50 years. Fortunately, a local resident
remembered the boiler and informed the local historical society of its
whereabouts. It was retrieved in 2000 and, following restoration, is now
displayed at Caboolture. Today this boiler provides a tangible link to the
establishment of Caboolture as a locomotive watering stop on the North
Railway. Dick McKean has written an interesting booklet ‘Lagoon Creek,
Caboolture, A history’ detailing the establishment of locomotive watering
facilities on Lagoon Creek and the subsequent development of Caboolture. The
history and retrieval of the boiler is also described. The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource
Management has a write-up of the Lagoon Creek Railway Water Supply
Facility and Pump Station on their website, providing additional history of
the pumping station and its role in the development of Caboolture. My thanks to Dick McKean of Caboolture for contributing
the information and photographs regarding this interesting relic. |
The boiler under restoration in Caboolture, prior to the firebox area being rebuilt.
This view shows the recently retrieved boiler on the creek bank in 2000.
The boiler being lifted from Lagoon Creek, Caboolture in 2000.
References
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a |
‘Lagoon
Creek, Caboolture, A history’ by Richard
McKean. Page 18. |
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b |
Information
provided by Dick McKean via letter,
July 2011. |
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c |
Armstrong, J. 'Locomotives in the Tropics - Volume 1 (Queensland
Railways 1864 - 1910), published by the
ARHS Queensland Division, 1985. Pages 56-57, 95 |
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Page updated: 27 April 2025
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Government Railways: |
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Private & Industrial Railways: |
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