South Australian Railways 600 class

The South Australian Railways 600 class was a class of ten 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives built in 1925, designed to operate on 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) gauge lines.

History

The 10 South Australian Railways (SAR) 600 class Pacific locomotives were part of an order for thirty modern steam locomotives placed with Armstrong Whitworth in Great Britain in 1924 as part of the rehabilitation of the state's rail system being overseen by railways commissioner W. A. Webb. The 600 class design was based on the USRA Light Pacific, although modifications were made by SAR's Chief Mechanical Engineer Fred Shea to allow them to fit South Australia's tighter loading gauge. They arrived to Adelaide in 1926 and all ten were placed into service the same year.

Engine number 609 was named Duke of Gloucester after hauling the Dukes Royal Train in 1934 and so became Australia's first 'royal' engine.

The entire class received upgraded boilers and front ends from the late 1930s onwards and was reclassified as the 600C class. They were also fitted out with large smoke deflectors over their lifetime.

It was found that another lighter weight Pacific type locomotive was needed. Ten locomotives of the South Australian Railways 620 class were therefore built at Islington Workshops in 1936–1938.

All examples of the 600 class were scrapped from the late 1950s onwards.

Stocklist

References

• Douglas Colquhoun, Ronald Stewien, Adrian Thomas (1971). 600 - The Pacific Locomotives of The South Australian Railways. Adelaide, South Australia: A.R.H.S. SA division. 
• Drymalik, Chris. "Broad Gauge 600-class 4-6-2 (later 600C-class) locomotives". comrails.com. Retrieved 2011-05-27.