Victorian Railways X class
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 VR Newport Workshops photograph of X 28, 1929. The locomotive has not yet been fitted with lamps and cab windows. |
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| Power type | steam |
|---|---|
| Builder | Newport Workshops |
| Configuration | 2-8-2 |
| Driver size | 61 in |
| Length | 77 ft 4½ in |
| Axle load | 19 t 5 c |
| Weight on drivers | 74.25 t (roadworthy) |
| Total weight | 181 t 2 c |
| Tender capacity | 9 t coal, 8,600 gal |
| Boiler pressure | 205 psi |
| Fire grate area | 42 ft² |
| Heating surface: Total | 3,107 ft² |
| Cylinders | 2 |
| Cylinder size | 22×28 in |
| Tractive effort | 39,360 lbf (without booster) 48,360 lbf (with booster), at 85% boiler pressure |
| Number in class | 29 |
The X class was a mainline goods locomotive of the 2-8-2 'Mikado' type that ran on the Victorian Railways between 1929 and 1960.
Contents |
[edit] History
The X class was a development of the earlier C class 2-8-0 goods locomotive, designed to be gauge convertible from 5 ft 3 in broad gauge to 4 ft 8½ in standard gauge in the event of the Victorian Railways network being converted to standard gauge. (The C class, with a narrow firebox between the frames, could not be easily converted.)
The 2-8-2 layout of the X class allowed a wide, deep firebox and large, free steaming boiler. This improved on some key shortcomings of the C class, which were regarded as poor steaming and featured a very long (9 ft 7 in) manually stoked firebox that was difficult to fire and prone to clinkering.
All but two of the X class (X 35 & 36) featured a Franklin Booster engine on the trailing truck axle, although X 35 eventually gained one. This allowed an additional 9,000 lbf tractive effort at starting and low speeds to increase the hauling power of the locomotive.
The X class, like all broad gauge VR steam locomotives from the A2 class onwards, underwent improvements during the 1930s such as modifications to the smokebox, fitting of smoke deflectors, and cross-compound air compressors. The original round-top boilers were modified with Belpaire pattern fireboxes, modified combustion chambers and thermic siphons to increase power and efficiency.
[edit] Production
The success of the original eleven locomotives led to a further eight X class locomotives being built in 1937-38, a further six built in 1942-43, with a final four X class delivered by 1947.
[edit] Experimental use of Pulverised Brown Coal
In 1949, X 32 was fitted with German 'Stug' (Studiengesellschaft) equipment and a specially modified tender for the burning of Pulverised Brown Coal (PBC). The trial was successful and the locomotive was considerably more powerful as a result of the conversion, even hauling the "Albury Express" passenger train between Melbourne (Spencer St Station) and Seymour on one occasion. Victorian Railways went as far as placing tenders for the construction of a further 15 brown-coal fired X class locomotives. However, the successful introduction of mainline diesel-electric locomotives, coupled with a drop in the price of oil against the high cost of installing storage and transport facilities for PBC, saw the discontinuation of the experiment. X 32 was taken out of service in 1956 pending repairs, but was instead scrapped in 1957.
[edit] Preservation
Efforts by railway enthusiasts to save the last remaining X class locomotive from being scrapped led to the establishment of a railway museum and the preservation of examples of many other VR locomotive classes.
In November 1960, the last two X class locomotives (X 29 and X 36) were withdrawn from service[2] and X 29 was cut up for scrap shortly afterwards. Members of the Australian Railway Historical Society, aware that the X class was about to vanish just as the S class 4-6-2 had six years earlier, approached the Victorian Railway Commissioners suggesting that this locomotive and an example of each of the various other classes still in existence be preserved in a railway museum.[3] They received the support of the Commissioners, who provided locomotives, land, and tracks for the establishment of the museum, as well as the support of companies and individuals who donated time, labour, materials and finance to complete the project.
X 36 is today preserved alongside dozens of other former VR locomotives and rolling stock at the ARHS North Williamstown Railway Museum.
[edit] References
- Pearce et al, North Williamstown Railway Museum, AHRS, Melbourne, 1980, ISBN 0-85849-018-8
- Carlisle, R.M. & Abbott, R.L. Hudson Power, ARHS, Melbourne, 1985, ISBN 0-85849-028-5
