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South Johnstone Mill No.5 Built by Hudswell Clarke to an order received by John Fowler |
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South Johnstone No.5 in
storage at ANGRMS, Woodford on 12 April 2003.
The loco wears a faded
but handsome yellow livery with red stripes, with maroon edging & frames and
white-wall tires;
Presumably this livery
provided high visibility; a useful safety feature given the frequent road
crossings by sugar tramways.
The two sandboxes are stored on cab roof, rather than their
rightful place on the boiler fore and rear of the steam dome.
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Builder |
Hudswell,
Clarke & Co. Ltd, Leeds (to a John
Fowler & Co. Ltd design) |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
Hudswell Clarke 1705 of 1938 & John Fowler 22752 of 1938 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
0-4-2T |
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The
South Johnstone Mill near Innisfail is aptly named, being situated alongside
the South Johnstone River and the nearby township of South Johnstone! In need
of additional motive power in 1938, South Johnstone Mill ordered a locomotive
from the famous Leeds company John Fowler & Co Ltd, based on the design of
an earlier Fowler locomotive supplied to the Mill in 1929. Following a
strategic business decision, John Fowler & Co had exited the steam
locomotive market by this date and were only building internal combustion
locomotives. Unable to persuade South Johnstone Mill’s management on the
virtues of diesel power, Fowler made arrangements with their nearby former
competitor Hudswell Clarke & Co Ltd, who built the locomotive to Fowler’s
design under licence, and accordingly South Johnstone No.5 received builder’s
numbers from both companies. I
don’t have any information on the retirement date or early preservation
history of South Johnstone Mill No.5, but it has been stored since the 1980’s
by the Australian Narrow Gauge Railway Museum Society (ANGRMS) at their Woodford
base. The ANGRMS website includes a data
sheet for South Johnstone No.5 with some useful technical information. The photos
on this page show South Johnstone No.5 in storage at Woodford on 12 April
2003. Superficially the loco seems like a good candidate for restoration; it appears
complete and is a relatively modern loco with an interesting history, but
perhaps the boiler or other components need major work. |
A rear view of South
Johnstone No.5 in storage at ANGRMS, Woodford on 12 April 2003.
The two sandboxes are stored
on cab roof, and a protective cover has been placed on top of the chimney.
The loco’s external frame can be seen in this view.
References
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a |
Light
Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. Web site (Retrieved 3 November 2018): 'Preserved Australian Sugar Cane Locomotives'
list by John Browning |
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b |
ANRGMS
website page for South Johnstone No.5, retrieved 4
November 2018 |
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c |
Wikipedia page for Hudswell, Clarke & Co. Ltd, retrieved
4 November 2018 |
Page updated: 4 November 2018
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