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BHP Newcastle No.4 Stored for the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum |
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My visit to Dorrigo of 24 January 2004 found BHP Newcastle No.4
stored on the newly laid sidings, in company with other 4-wheel industrial
shunters.
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Builder |
H.K.
Porter Co, Pittsburgh USA |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
5685 of 1915 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
0-4-0T |
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No. in class |
18 |
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The H. K.
Porter Company of Pittsburgh specialised in small 4-wheel steam locomotives
for industrial and construction use, although some larger main-line
locomotives were also built. In addition, H. K. Porter became a dominant
manufacturer of small compressed-air locomotives for underground operation,
and fireless locomotives for use in chemical plants and refineries where the
risk of fire prohibited the conventional steam locomotives. Among
their many customers worldwide was the BHP Newcastle steelworks, established
in 1915, which settled on the Porter 0-4-0T design as their de-facto standard
for shunting work. Porter initially supplied three 0-4-0T locomotives to BHP
Newcastle (Nos.2 - 4), later joined by a further 7 Porter examples and 8
copies built in BHP Newcastle’s own workshops. Porter also supplied smaller
915mm gauge 0-4-0ST locos to the BHP Newcastle plant for the internal ingot
transfer line. These locos rubbed shoulders with an eclectic mix of steam
locomotives at the Newcastle steelworks, including ‘funnies’ converted for
shunting work - such as 0-6-0ST No.1, rebuilt from E17 class 0-6-0 E40 (Henry
Vale b/n 5 of 1870) and No.26, rebuilt from NSWGR 2-6-0 tender loco No.2415.
(Leon Oberg provides a thorough account of the interesting steam fleet at BHP
Newcastle in the fifth edition of his ‘Locomotives of Australia – 1854 to
2010, together with anecdotes from former BHP employees.) Upon
dieselisation of the BHP Newcastle shunting fleet, most of their steam
locomotives quickly found themselves as feed for the company steelmaking
furnace, but a lucky few were transferred or sold for further duties
elsewhere. With the
arrival of standard gauge link to the BHP Whyalla steelworks in South
Australia, two of the BHP built 0-4-0T copies were relocated there – becoming
B1 (formerly No.21) & B2 (formerly No.25) on the local roster. B2 lasted
the longest at Whyalla but alas was scrapped in 1968. It would have made a
fine specimen for local preservation, or an interesting addition to at the
Mile End Railway Museum, adding to the story of South Australia’s economic
development and gauge quandaries. Porter
engine No.16 was sold to Emu Gravel in western Sydney in 1962, followed by
No,12 in 1963, with No.12 lasting until 1967 when road transport took over. No.16 was saved for posterity by the NSW
Rail Transport Museum (now NSW Rail Museum) and served as shunter at the Enfield
and Thirlmere museum sites for many years but is now plinthed at St Mary’s. Porter
No.4 (one of the original batch of three Porter 0-4-0T locomotives) was sold to
Commonwealth Steel Co Ltd, Newcastle in 1962 – one of the heavy industrial
plants leveraging feedstock from the adjacent steelworks, and stablemate with
preserved Barclay locomotive ‘Juno’.
Here No.4 worked into the early 1970’s before being donated to the Hunter
Valley Steam Railway & Museum collection in 1975. It was later transported
to Dorrigo for the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum and placed in storage
on the newly constructed display sidings, awaiting the collection being
opened to the public. (If I recall correctly, in speaking with owner of the
Dorrigo collection, I understood a good quantity of heavy spares are held for
No.4 including a set of wheels.) |
References
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a |
‘Locomotives of Australia
– 1854 to 2010’ by Leon Oberg, 5th
edition, 2010, published by Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd ISBN 9781921719011 |
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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 |
Griffiths
D. ‘BHP Tramways Centenary History’ Published
by Mile End Railway Museum, 1985 |
Page updated: 12 December 2021
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