Valdora

Last used by Moreton Mill, Nambour

My thanks to Cory Heath for contributing this view of Valdora displayed at the Nambour Museum on 18 December 2012.

The valve gear seems to be of an unusual design.

Builder	Dick, Kerr & Co, Kilmarnock, Scotland
Builder’s Number & Year	? of 1893
Wheel Arrangement	0-4-0T

Valdora is a rare and unusual locomotive, being one of only fifty or so railway locomotives constructed by Dick, Kerr & Co.
Its career was spent in sugar cane haulage, first at Racecourse Mill, Mackay before moving to Moreton Mill, Nambour in 1937.

Valdora was plinthed in a Nambour park in 1964. When I first encountered Valdora in 2004 it was plinthed at the local live steam association park (near the Nambour railway station but on the opposite side of the creek) where the locomotive resided under a securely-caged weather roof. The cage prevented access to the locomotive and also made photography very difficult, but no doubt contributed to the ongoing preservation of this interesting old locomotive.

Valdora has since been relocated to the Nambour Museum, operated by the Nambour & District Historical Museum Association Inc. Here this rare and unusual locomotive is displayed in a suitable covered area and appears to be well cared for.

Valdora as caged at the Nambour live steam park on 30 January 2004.
The cage made photography very difficult!

References

a	Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. Web site (retrieved 28 July 2017): 'Preserved Australian Sugar Cane Locomotives' list by John Browning (www.lrrsa.org.au/LRR_SGRc.htm)
b	Wikipedia page for Dick, Kerr & Co, retrieved 28 July 2017

Page updated: 28 July 2017

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