New South Wales D50 class locomotive

The New South Wales D50 class was a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotives operated by the New South Wales Government Railways in Australia.

History

The first was delivered in May 1896 by

The Commonwealth Railways also chose this design, purchasing eight K class engines for the Trans-Australian Railway.^[2]

The last 75 engines were built with superheaters and after being judged a success many of the class were retrofitted. Many engines of the class received turret type tenders in later years which provided better visibility when operating in reverse.^[2]

In the 1930s, 72 engines were withdrawn and after being used during the load testing of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 with most of these locomotives being later scrapped, although 14 engines were rebuilt with superheaters and returned to service.^[1] By mid-1964 there were only 113 engines left in service with the class of these kinds of engines by now normally restricted to working coal trains in the Hunter Valley and shunting duties in the larger marshalling yards throughout the system.^[1][2] Several of these heavy shunters were fitted with automatic couplings on the front buffer beam from 1960 onwards.

5069 and 5132 are both preserved by

5112, also in saturated condition, was purchased by the Bathurst Regional Council in 1974 and plinthed at Bathurst station in 1977.^[5][6][7] After being moved to Orange for a proposed overhaul that never eventuated, it was cosmetically restored at the Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park & Railway between 2005 and 2010 before being placed back on static display at Bathurst station. It is known as the "Chifley Engine" as it was regularly driven by future Prime Minister Ben Chifley before he entered politics.^[8]

Preservation

References