Victorian Railways C class

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**Victorian Railways C Class**
Power type	steam
VR photograph of C 1, as built in 1918.
Builder	Newport Workshops
Configuration	2-8-0
Driver size	61 in
Length	65 ft 3 in
Axle load	18 t 10 c
Weight on drivers	71 t 18 c (roadworthy)
Total weight	128 t 10 c
Tender capacity	(after conversion to oil firing) 1,500 gal oil, 4,700 gal water
Boiler pressure	200 psi
Fire grate area	32 ft²
Heating surface: Total	2,417 ft²
Cylinders	2
Cylinder size	22×28 in
Tractive effort	38,400 lbf at 85% boiler pressure
Number in class	26

The C class was a mainline goods locomotive of the 2-8-0 'Consolidation' type that ran on the Victorian Railways between 1918 and 1962.

1 History
2 Preservation
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The C class was the first goods locomotive designed and built entirely in-house by the Victorian Railways Newport Workshops, following on from the the successful Dd and A2 class passenger locomotives. When introduced in 1918, they were the heaviest and most powerful steam locomotives in Australia. The locomotive was designed by Chief Mechanical Enginer W. M. Shannon. (Oberg, Locomotives of Australia, p. 127.)

[edit] Production

The prototype locomotive C 1 was the last locomotive to be painted in the Victorian Railways 'Canadian Red' scheme. Locomotive C 2 was the first new locomotive finished in the new VR livery of plain, unrelieved black. It was the first of a further 25 C class members also built at Newport Workshops between 1918 and 1926.

[edit] Design Improvements

In practice, the C class was initially a somewhat less successful design than the A2. Key shortcomings included a very long (9 ft 7 in) manually stoked firebox that was difficult to fire and prone to clinkering, and an undersized boiler. The locomotive tended to run of steam when worked hard.

In an attempt to rectify these problems, locomotive C 5 was fitted in 1933 with 'Modified Front End', a streamlining of the steam passages and other changes designed to reduce back pressure on the exhaust side and increase efficiency. The success of Modified Front End was such that the rest of the C class was progressively modified, as well as all of the A2, K, N, S and X classes.

C 5 was also the first VR locomotive to be fitted with a cross-compound air compressor, which was also subsequently adopted across other VR locomotive classes.

As the poor quality of coal available after World War II exacerbated the problems of firing the C class, the entire class was converted to oil firing from 1946 onwards, following an initial conversion of C 15. German pattern smoke deflectors were also fitted around 1948. Even following the successful conversion to oil firing, which gave the locomotive new life, the engines could run out of steam when pushed on long rising gradients. (Oberg, Locomotives)

[edit] Passenger Use

During World War II, increasingly heavy passenger trains and a shortage of suitable motive power saw the C class used as mainline passenger locomotives, a somewhat unusual assignment for a 2-8-0. To facilitate passenger working, their maximum allowable speed was raised from 50 MPH (80 km/h) to 60 MPH (96 km/h) on certain lines.

[edit] Withdrawal

The postwar rebuilding of Victorian Railways in the late 1940s and early 1950s saw the order of hundreds of new locomotives of superior design to the C class, culminating in the delivery of B class mainline diesel electric and L class mainline electric locomotives.

With these new locomotives entering service, the ageing C class locomotives were progressively withdrawn from service, commencing with C 20 in June 1954. The last C class in service, C 7, was withdrawn in April 1962.