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The
PB15 class were conceived as a passenger version of the earlier B15 class
4-6-0 freight locomotives dating from 1889, hence the ‘P’ prefix. A key
difference was the larger diameter driving wheels, being 4’ for the PB15
class as opposed to the original 3’ diameter of the B15 class. The
classification otherwise followed the Queensland Government Railways (QGR) naming
convention of ‘B’ for 6-coupled locomotives and ‘15’ to designate 15-inch
cylinder diameter. The first PB15 class locomotive entered service in 1899,
10 years after the B15 class. The PB15’s proved to be useful locomotives in
addition to their handsome, well-proportioned looks, and the class had grown
to 202 examples by 1912.
As
a testament to the utility of the PB15 design, the Ipswich Railway
Workshops constructed an additional unit in 1924 for the Aramac Shire
Tramway; this locomotive later passed into QGR stock in 1958 becoming No.12.
When the Queensland Railways administration of the early 1920’s identified a
need for additional mixed traffic locomotives for light lines, the proven
PB15 design was selected with a further 30 units built by Walkers Limited,
Maryborough between 1925 & 1926. These ‘1924 design’ PB15’s featured
Walschaerts valve gear instead of the original Stephenson gear, together
with other modifications and modernisations.
The
PB15 class found extensive use on mail and passenger trains, lightly-laid
main lines (such as the Main Range route from Cairns to the Atherton
Tableland) and country branch lines, together with suburban passenger and
shunting turns. A number were withdrawn in 1942 and 1943, but the balance
lasted to the end of QGR steam operations, being withdrawn between 1967 and
1970.
PB15
No.444 entered service with Queensland Government Railways in July 1908 and
was written off in October 1969 after a working life of 61 years. No.444
was selected to represent the class in the Redbank Railway Museum, where it
was statically displayed among the locomotive exhibits from 1970 until that
museum closed in 1992. The Redbank exhibits later moved to the newly
established railway museum at Ipswich Railway Workshops, known as ‘The
Workshops’. Here No.444 was placed on display with a short mixed train near
the museum entrance, representing a typical light lines scene from the QR’s
early years.
Excellent
references for further information about the PB15 class are ‘Locomotives in
the Tropics - Volume 1 (Queensland Railways 1864 - 1910)’, which covers the
original Stephenson valve gear locos, and Volume 2 (Queensland Railways
1910 – 1958 and beyond) which covers the 1924 design / Walschaerts valve
gear locomotives. The Wikipedia page for the PB15 class also contains useful
technical data.
The ones that got away
The
final steam locomotives dispatched from Ipswich for scrapping was a batch
of seven that departed in June 1973, being cut up at Banyo in August & September
of that year. Alas this final dispatch included four PB15 class 4-6-0’s, No’s
440, 531, 599 & Walschaerts example No.745. The QR administration held
the 4-8-0 C17 class in very high regard and many were donated for static
preservation around the state, but perhaps it is regrettable that some PB15’s
were not donated instead, being more historic and representative exhibits
of QGR steam power.
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