|
|
C17 No. 2 Stored at The Workshops museum, Ipswich |
|
The bane of railway
photographers – large, black, shadowed objects in a heavily backlit shed!
No. 2 is seen resting in a storage area at the rear of The
Workshops museum, Ipswich on 8 October 2004.
|
Builder |
Evans,
Anderson, Phelan & Co, Kangaroo
Point, Brisbane |
|
|
Builder’s Number & Year |
169 of 1923 |
|
|
Wheel Arrangement |
4-8-0 |
|
|
No. in class |
227 |
|
|
No.2
is an example of the Queensland Government Railways’ highly successful C17
class 4-8-0 locomotives, a ‘maid of all work’ type that were powerful enough
for main line freight duties, yet with a low axle load which permitted wide
deployment and accordingly they could be found on everything from suburban
and express passenger trains to main, secondary and branch line freight and
mixed traffic work, although the type are perhaps best associated with the
long routes through Queensland Government Railways’ (QGR) Northern and
Central Divisions. The
C17 design featured a superheated boiler and was developed from the earlier
saturated steam C16 type, represented in preservation by No.106. (The ‘C17’ classification follows QGR
nomenclature whereby ‘C’ denotes an 8-coupled locomotive and ‘17’ references
the cylinder diameter, in inches). The
first ten C17 class locos built by Ipswich Railway Workshops suffered some
early teething troubles, but these were quickly overcome after modifications
such as replacing the exhaust steam injectors with more reliable (but less
efficient) live steam injectors. The
class leader was actually No.15, completed by Ipswich Railway Workshops and
placed in traffic during August 1920.
(QGR had the practice of reallocating to new locomotives the road
numbers rendered vacant following the disposal of older machines, hence
low-numbered units such as No.2 and No.15 came to be issued to traffic in the
1920’s). Given the usefulness of the
C17 type, orders were placed with a variety of builders over 33 years to
1953, eventually swelling the class to 227 units. Three
main variants were developed as the design was modified over the 33 year
build period: ·
The original ‘1920 version’ (143 units), which featured a
straight-sided cutaway cab, tall steam dome, cast iron chimney and a
low-sided bogie tender. This version
was constructed between 1920 and 1929 and received various road numbers up to
No.840. ·
The ‘1938 version’ (66 units), which were improved over
the original 1920 design by use of piston valves, Laird crossheads, a wider
& taller sedan cab sporting sliding windows, and a slender stovepipe
chimney with capuchion lip. A
higher-capacity bogie tender with raised sides was also provided. These locomotives carried various road
numbers (in broken sequences) from 858 to 960. ·
The ‘1950 version’ (40 units) based on the 1938 design
but further enhanced by Timken roller bearings on all axles. These locomotives were built by Walkers
Ltd, Maryborough under two orders of 20 locos each and were issued to traffic
in brown livery with green lining, earning the nickname “brown bombers”. They carried numbers 961 to 1000. Commonwealth
Railways, the Federal Government operator of the Trans Australia, Central
Australia & North Australia Railways, followed a pragmatic policy of
copying proven Australian locomotive designs, a policy which perhaps also
reflected a spirit of Federalism. For
their Central Australia Railway linking Port Augusta with Alice Springs, the
successful 1920 C17 design was chosen, with 25 ‘NM’ class locomotives built
by Thompsons’ Foundry, Castlemaine, Victoria.
Today these Commonwealth Railways cousins are represented in
preservation by NM25 and NM34. The
versatility and usefulness of the C17 class provided some protection during
the changeover to diesel traction, with many lasting until 1969 and the final
few retired at the very end of QGR revenue steam operations in August
1970. The QGR administration also
favoured the C17 class for donation to community groups for static
preservation, with many plinthed in various parks and reserves around the
State. Preserved
locomotive C17 No.2 entered QGR service in January 1923 and was written off
in February 1969. It was selected to
represent an early C17 of the original 1920 version in the collection of the
former QR Redbank Locomotive Museum, ostensibly being chosen due to its low
running number. (It is a pity that the
more historic class leader No.15 wasn’t also set aside following its
withdrawal in July 1968, possibly for display at Ipswich Railway Workshops.) No. 2 was plinthed at the QR Redbank
Locomotive Museum from 1970 to 1992, together with C17 No. 1000 which
provided a contrasting example of the modernised ‘1950 version’. The
QR Redbank Locomotive Museum closed its doors in 1992 pending the development
of a more comprehensive and interactive railway museum, which eventuated a
few years later as The Workshops museum at Ipswich. However many of the Redbank locomotive
exhibits have not been placed on display at The Workshops museum, including
C17 No. 2. Instead these locomotives
are kept in a storage shed at the rear of Ipswich Workshops, where they await
removal of old boiler lagging and repainting before they could be publicly
displayed. Hopefully funding for this
purpose can be found in the near future. An
excellent source of detailed technical and historical information about the
C17 class is John Armstrong’s book 'Locomotives in the Tropics - Volume 2
(Queensland Railways 1910 – 1958 and beyond)’, published by the ARHS
Queensland Division, 1994. Wikipedia also includes some further information and
photographs. |
|||
References
|
a |
"Locomotives of
Australia" by Leon Oberg, published by J. W. Books Pty Ltd |
|
b |
Armstrong,
J. 'Locomotives in the Tropics - Volume 2 (Queensland Railways 1910 – 1958 and
beyond)’, published by the ARHS
Queensland Division, 1994. |
|
c |
Webmaster's
observation or comment |
Page updated: 22 February 2016
|
Government Railways: |
|
|||||||||
|
Private & Industrial Railways: |
|