Stella

Campbelltown Steam & Machinery Museum

Stella shuffling around the former tourist railway at the Marsden Steam Museum, Goulburn on 6 October 1981.

This photograph was kindly contributed by Peter Williams.

Builder	Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Co, Munich, Germany
Builder’s Number & Year	3423 of 1897
Wheel Arrangement	0-6-0WT

This locomotive was delivered new to the Gin Gin Central Milling Co. in 1897 where it received the name ‘Stella’. Small German-built locomotives such as this example were popular for mining, industrial, construction and sugar cane haulage duties in Australia until the outbreak of World War 1, after which British manufactured machines were favoured.

Stella was saved in 1967 for preservation at the Marsden Museum of Historic Engines at Goulburn, NSW, based at the historic Goulburn Waterworks and featuring an impressive Appleby Beam Engine. Here Stella was in operation for the museum’s official opening on 4 April 1970 and was an operational exhibit in the 1970's and early 1980's; the webmaster has fond childhood memories of this loco in action on the demonstration / tourist line which stretched from the historic Marsden Weir pump house to the museum gates approximately 600 metres away. This railway included a steep and curved grade out of the waterworks site, and the operating locos would take a run-up at the grade! Unfortunately, the steam locomotive collection at the Marsden Museum of Historic Engines has since been dispersed and the tourist railway removed, but the Goulburn Waterworks Museum remains well worth a visit to see the Appleby Beam Engine.

Stella was dismantled by 1989 for an overhaul which apparently did not proceed. The dismantled components were sold to a private collector in 2000, being transferred to his private site at Echuca, Victoria. The webmaster was granted a visit to the owner's site in March 2005; at that stage Stella’s boiler overhaul was progressing in the workshop / running shed while the chassis and other components were stored outside of the workshop.

UPDATE:

Light Railways magazine of August 2019 included the sad news of the owner’s passing and subsequent sale of his collection. Stella has now been obtained by the Campbelltown Steam & Machinery Museum and relocated to their site in Sydney’s south. I’ll enquire about this loco at my next visit there; hopefully the resources will be available for its restoration and reassembly.

Stella's boiler under overhaul at Echuca; the tall steam dome is evident. 23 March 2005

Stella's frames & wheels stored among the bric-a-brac outside the workshop at Echuca on 23 March 2005.

Keen-eyed observers will also note a 4-wheel passenger car behind, followed by Fowler ‘Petrie’ (b/n 19930 of 1933).

References

a	'Light Railways - Australia's Magazine of Industrial & Narrow-Gauge Railways', Number 153, June 2000. Article ‘Krauss Locomotives in Australia – A close look at their characteristics and an overview of their migrations’ by Bruce Macdonald. Published by Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. pp.10-18. (This article is also available online.)
b	Wikipedia page for Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Co / George Krauss, retrieved 31 August 2021.
c	'Light Railways', Number 69, July 1980. Published by Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc.
d	'Light Railways', Number 268, August 2019. (News article, page 46.) Published by Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc.

Page updated: 27 August 2023

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