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Ut 664 The Railway Museum, Bassendean |
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Ut 664 displays its chunky lines at The Railway Museum,
Bassendean on 9 May 2002.
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Builder |
North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
24841 of 1942 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
4-6-4T |
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No. in class |
14 built as U class 4-6-2 1 rebuilt to Ut class 4-6-4T |
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Entered Service |
As U class 4-6-2: 4 April 1947 As Ut class 4-6-4T: 8 July 1957 |
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Date Withdrawn |
10 September 1970 |
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The WAGR
U-Class locomotives have a particularly interesting and international
antecedence, being constructed by the North British Locomotive Company in
1942 to a UK War Department order for 55 oil-burning locos as their ‘2800
series Pacifics’ intended for use in North Africa and other theatres with 3’
6” gauge trackage. In 1946, the WAGR took advantage of war surplus equipment
to purchase 14 unused examples of these WD Pacifics from the British Ministry
of Munitions. (For further background to the WAGR U-class, refer to U 655 which provides an interesting
comparison to the original tender configuration.) U 664’s
career took a different path to that of its WAGR sisters. It was converted
from oil to coal firing in 1954, and although apparently successful, no
further conversions of U-class members followed - presumably in recognition
both of plans for further dieselisation, and of recent deliveries of modern
and efficient post-war WAGR steam locomotives with fireboxes designed to burn
the local Collie Coal. Perth
suburban services were handled for many years by a fleet of ‘Baltic’ 4-6-4T
locomotives of various classes, starting with the ‘D / Ds class’ of 1912 and
represented in preservation by the final ‘Dd class’ locos Dd 592 and Dd 596.
With the U class underutilised and with a desire to accelerate the suburban
timetable, WAGR management rebuilt U 664 to 4-6-4T configuration in 1957.
Interestingly, it was also converted back from coal to oil firing at this
time. No further U-class conversions followed, the newer diesel railcars and
existing Dm and Dd locos apparently being sufficient and having lower running
costs, and hence the U-Class remained in storage at Midland Workshops in
company with much older and worn-out machines, leaving No.664 as the sole
member of the Ut class. Ut 664
apparently had intermittent use in the 1960’s; photos show it in storage at
Midland Workshops in company with its U class sisters while it apparently
found a niche hauling ballast trains for a period, as evidenced by photos in
the Rail Heritage WA archive shown below. Ut 664 was officially withdrawn on 10 September 1970. Fortunately, it was saved for posterity and transferred to the care of the Australian Railway Historical Society (WA Division). Ut 664 is an interesting steam locomotive, and I am glad circumstances led to its survival, however it is one of the anomalies of steam locomotive preservation that this machine escaped the scrapper’s torch while many more historically important and representative tank locomotive types did not. Examples lost to history include the original D / Ds class 4-6-4T, the later Dm class 4-6-4T and early K-class 2-8-4T. Such is the happenstance of railway preservation, often succeeding to save what is left, spurred by what had been lost. Today, Ut
664 can be found displayed at The Railway Museum, Bassendean. At the time of my visit
in May 2002 it was showing its age, with rust holes appearing in the bottom
of the side tanks, but more recent photos suggest the rust holes have now
been patched and the loco cosmetically restored. I’m looking forward to a
return visit to Bassendean to take many digital photos of Ut 664 and the
wonderful locomotive collection there! |
A second view of Ut 664 at The Railway Museum, Bassendean
on 9 May 2002.
Alas Ut 664’s age was showing – rust had eaten though the
side tanks at the front bottom.
Detail of Ut 664’s front end.
This view is from a scanned photo print dated 9 May 2002.
Ut 664 stored with sister U-class locos at Midland
Workshops, circa 1960’s.
Image used with
permission of the wonderful Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=10552
(Image reference T01943,
original photographer E. Woodland.)
Ut 664 returning to Midland from ballast train duties,
south of Wannamal.
Image used with permission of the
wonderful Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=7394
(Image reference P11585, original photographer P. Hopper.)
Ut 664 on ballast train duties on the SW line, circa
1960’s.
Inspection of the smokebox door shows
where the moniker ‘The Ballast’ (seen in photo above) had recently been rubbed
off.
Image used with permission of the
wonderful Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=7484
(Image reference P11675, original photographer P. Hopper.)
A perfectly positioned ‘rods down’ portrait of U 664 in
original configuration, riding the turntable at East Perth Loco depot circa
1950’s.
This view provides an interesting
comparison of the locomotive before its tendersectomy (or perhaps it was a
tankadictamy?)
The boiler top injectors, sandbox and
steam dome provide a hint of the details hidden under Ut 664’s combined dome
valance.
Image used with permission of the
wonderful Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=6824
(Image reference P11015, original photographer J. L.
Buckland.)
References
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a |
A. Gunzburg
'A history of WAGR steam locomotives', published
by ARHS (Western Australian Division) 1984. |
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b |
Gray. W.
K., 'Guide
to Rail Transport Museum, Bassendean, Western Australia', Australian
Railway Historical Society W. A. Division, First
Edition November 1999. |
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c |
Rail
Heritage WA website, Exhibits page: U & Ut class: https://www.railheritagewa.org.au/museum/locos/pages/u-ut_steam.php retrieved 6
January 2023 |
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d |
Wikipedia
page for WAGR U-class: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAGR_U_class retrieved
29 January 2023 |
Page updated: 22 February 2023
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Government Railways: |
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