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C17 No. 812 Southern Downs Steam Railway |
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C17 No.812 nears the end
of its overhaul and repaint at RAILCO’s Atherton depot in October 1999.
The locomotive is turned
out in attractive crimson livery with brass boiler crinolines.
The straight cab, tall
steam dome and cast iron chimney of the original C17 ‘1920 design’ make for a
handsome, well-proportioned locomotive.
On this day the brass
number and builder’s plated are fitted, but not the cylinder cladding
(presumably for ease of maintenance).
This photo was kindly contributed by Graham Watkins.
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Builder |
Sir W
G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd, Newcastle
upon Tyne |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
860 of 1927 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
4-8-0 |
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No. in class |
227 |
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No.812
is one of Queensland Government Railways’ highly successful C17 class 4-8-0
locomotives of which 227 units were constructed by a variety of builders
between 1920 and 1953. No.812 represents the original ‘1920 design’ of C17
which are identifiable by a smaller, straight-sided cutaway cab, tall steam
dome, cast iron chimney and a low-sided bogie tender. It also retains the
original style of boiler with a tall steam dome. No.812 is one of a batch of
25 additional C17-class engines imported from the UK manufacturer Armstrong
Whitworth & Co in 1927 and unloaded at the Pinkenba wharf in Brisbane. (For further information about the
Queensland Government Railways’ C17 class locomotives, refer to the page for C17 No.2.) No.812
was placed in Queensland Government Railways service in July 1927 and written
off 42 years later in June 1969.
Following retirement it was placed in a park at Atherton (on the
eponymous Atherton Tableland, inland from Cairns in tropical Far North
Queensland) for the local Rotary Club. In
1988, Queensland Rail closed the Atherton Tablelands railway line south from Atherton via
Herberton to Ravenshoe. Local
community group RAILCO was formed to campaign for retention and reopening of
the line, spawning separate tourist railways at both the Ravenshoe and
Atherton ends of the line. No.812 plinthed at Atherton was acquired and
restored to operation at the RAILCO Atherton depot at Platypus Park, just
south of the town (as Atherton Station and yard was still being used by
Queensland Rail). A period video
shows the hardy RAILCO volunteers overhauled the tender by laying it on its
side, to gain access to the underframe! Trolley rides were offered on the
line to help raise awareness and funds for repair of the permanent way. No.812
subsequently operated over a restored section of the line towards Herberton,
with the webmaster remembering a pleasant but short trip of about 3km length
enjoyed during the summer of 1996 in an interesting mix of rollingstock including
a louvre-sided car ostensibly converted from a bogie goods wagon. A
subsequent visit in July 2004 found the Atherton operations suspended due to
deteriorating track condition, with RAILCO instead concentrating on their
successful operation with D17 No.268 at the other end of the line between
Ravenshoe and Tumoulin. During this period No.812 and its train remained in
open storage at Platypus Park, hoping for funding to restore the railway up
the 1:33 grades and Herberton Range tunnel through to Herberton. In
September 2016 I was contacted by the new owner of No.812 and provided with
further information about this locomotive. It is now privately owned and has
been leased to the Southern
Downs Steam Railway, Warwick, where it arrived in September 2016. Here it was
intended to be overhauled for operation on tourist train services, providing
a second loco to their restored C17 No.971. (Around January 2016 the loco
unit of No.812 was spotted in a haulier’s yard at an industrial site at
Myrtletown, behind Brisbane airport, during its transport south from the
Atherton Tablelands; attracting some attention on rail fan social media
sites! No.812’s tender had taken a different route south with a sojourn at
the owner’s rural property in South-East Queensland during its trip south.) I
look forward to seeing this handsome and capable locomotive in service at
Warwick. (I have subsequently been informed that No.802 has been found to
have significant frame cracking and poor boiler condition, which would be expensive
but not insurmountable obstacles to restoration.) |
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This view was kindly
provided by Ken McHugh on his visit to Atherton on 25 November 2006.
Ken found No.812 to be stored operational, with all plates
and backhead fittings removed for safekeeping.
This more recent view of
No.812 at Atherton was contributed by Joel Turner and is dated 11 May 2013.
No.812 has since been transported to the south of
Queensland and is presently in storage at a Brisbane site.
References
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a |
"Locomotives of Australia"
by Leon Oberg, published by J. W. Books Pty Ltd |
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b |
Armstrong,
J. 'Locomotives in the Tropics - Volume 2 (Queensland Railways 1910 – 1958 and
beyond)’, published by the ARHS
Queensland Division, 1994. |
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c |
Wikipedia
page for the Atherton Tablelands railway line, retrieved 8
February 2016 |
Page updated: 19 October 2019
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