|
|
Kiama Illawarra Light Railway Museum Society |
|
A broadside view of ‘Kiama’ (Davenport b/n 1596 of 1917) in
steam at the Illawarra Light Railway open day of 19 March 2006.
The number ‘2’ on the cabside is not historical, instead relating
to the Illawarra Light Railway Museum Society’s fleet numbering.
|
Builder |
Iowa USA |
|
Builder’s Number & Year |
1596
of 1917 |
|
Wheel Arrangement |
0-4-0ST |
|
Civil
engineering projects today usually host an array of diesel excavators and
dump trucks, but in earlier times the hard work of digging rock and shifting earth
fell to men with picks and shovels, horses and carts! Mechanisation and light
railways came to be employed on large building projects as technology evolved,
often including steam-powered excavators and small locomotives for moving spoil
and delivering construction materials. In this context several companies specialised
in light railway equipment suitable for construction work. Such a machine is PWD
No.65, one of a pair of small 0-4-0ST locos supplied by Davenport Locomotive Works
to the NSW Public Works Department (PWD) in 1917 for the Cordeaux Dam
construction project, and identical to a third machine PWD No.23 supplied in
1915 for quarry duties at Kiama. Given that the history and preservation of PWD
No.65 is intertwined with the fate of the other two Davenport locomotives,
the three are described below:
Much like construction
machinery today, PWD No.65’s career took it to different sites as dictated by
the completion of one project and the commencement of the next. This humble
machine even had a role in Sydney Harbour Bridge construction, as both PWD Nos.64
& 65 spent some years hauling sand from the Nepean River to Menangle Park
station as part of that project. (I presume the sand was used as feed for a cement
plant.) PWD No.65
was sold to Quarries Limited in 1936 for use hauling blue metal at Kiama, joining
identical sister PWD No.23 on that interesting tramway. In 1938 the best components
of the two locos were combined to form a single operable machine, with most
parts apparently coming from b/n 1596. Quarries Limited closed the tramway in
1941 following their coastal steamship being requisitioned for wartime use, after
which the combination Davenport locomotive sat idle in the Pikes Hill loco
shed for more than a decade. A change
of circumstances came in 1956 when Bruce Macdonald obtained the Davenport loco
for preservation, becoming a very early entrant to the railway preservation
movement that followed. It was initially displayed outside the Brighton Hotel,
Kiama – facing the route of the Terralong Street tramway down which it formerly
steamed - before moving later in 1956 to the Parramatta Park Steam Tram
Preservation Society, a standard gauge operation with a short running line in
Parramatta Park. PWD No.65
moved to the Marsden Steam Museum, Goulburn in 1967, working on the 2’ gauge
line Bruce Macdonald had established there, in addition to restoring the
magnificent Appleby beam engine at what is now known as the Goulburn Historic
Waterworks Museum. Alas the
extensive 2’ gauge steam locomotive collection at Goulburn was dispersed in
the late 1970’s, with PWD No.65 purchased by the Illawarra Light Railway Museum
Society (ILRMS) at Albion Park. The loco had been overhauled and returned
to steam by ILRMS volunteers by 1978. Here it received the name ‘Kiama’ and was
numbered ‘2’ in their fleet. The Illawarra Light Railway & Museum page
for Kiama
provides a brief history for this interesting locomotive. For
further reading about Kiama’s blue metal tramway, readers are directed to ‘Terralong
Tracks, Kiama’ by Don Cottee & Yvonne McBurney, which details the history
and operations of this interesting tramway which ran from Pikes Hill quarry down
Kiama’s main street to the NSWGR exchange sidings at Kiama Station, and to ship
loading berths at Kiama Harbour. The boiler
of sister PWD No.64 (Davenport b/n 1595 of 1917) last saw static use in a sawmill
and survived long enough to be purchased by the ILRMS in 1979, ostensibly as
a spare for PWD No.65 ‘Kiama’. The boiler was recently placed on display at
Albion Park but had previously been proposed for use in their A & D Munro
Shay Locomotive rebuild project (as seen below). The photos
on this page date from the webmaster’s visit to the Illawarra Light Railway
on 19 March 2006, when ‘Kiama’ was in steam providing visitor rides around the
circular track through a paperbark forest. The ILRMS
site at Albion Park is close to the nearby HARS Aviation Museum and the
webmaster enjoyed a combined visit to both museums on 3 May 2015 which
included the superb Lockheed C-121C Super Constellation in flight! At the
time of that visit ‘Kiama’ was under overhaul at Albion Park, heritage funding
having been received for a replacement saddle tank, boiler repairs and other
work, which was completed by 12 March 2017 when ‘Kiama’ returned to steam for
its 100th birthday – a wonderful milestone for this old construction worker! Steamlocomoitve.com
website provides an interesting survey of surviving Davenport locomotives worldwide. Among that
list are a number of doppelgangers for ‘Kiama’, together with many similar
locomotives of different gauges. |
A second view of 'Kiama' in steam at the ILRMS open day of 19 March 2006.
The beautifully restored passenger carriage behind is the
body of Sydney C-class single-truck tram No.95, mounted on 2-foot gauge bogies.
A & D Munro Shay
No.2 at the ILRMS workshop on 13 October 2002, with boiler from PWD No.64 (Davenport
b/n 1595 of 1917) trial fitted.
At that stage I understand it was intended to use the spare
Davenport boiler (with an original Shay smokebox) in the Shay’s restoration.
|
a |
McCarthy, K. 'Gazetteer of Industrial Steam
Locomotives, Illawarra District NSW', prepared by Ken
McCarthy for the Illawarra Environmental Heritage Committee. Published by Australian Railway Historical
Society (NSW Division), December 1983. |
|
b |
Cottee, D.
& McBurney, Y. ‘Terralong Tracks, Kiama’ Published by Educational Material Aid, Strathfield, 1987 ISBN 0908053274 |
|
c |
Wikipedia page for Davenport Locomotive
Works, retrieved 22 October 2021. |
|
d |
ILRMS website, page for exhibit Kiama, retrieved 22October 2021 |
Page updated: 4 November
2021
|
Government Railways: |
|
|||||||||
|
Private & Industrial Railways: |
|