Railways and Tramways of Australia
21 February
P508 hauling a special goods train north of Bellevue on the Avon Valley Line, 1968. Photo: P Hopper, Rail Heritage WA, P11957.
Sole survivor
Preserved Western Australian steam locomotive P508 began service on 21 February 1925.
Ten P Class 4-6-2 locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. The first entered service in December 1924 and the last two to begin operating were nos 448 and 449 on 21 February 1925. No. 448 was renumbered as no. 508 in 1947. Another 15 of the class entered service in 1927 and 1929.
Following initial work in the Perth metropolitan area, no. 448 was allocated to Northam. It was assigned to passenger and fast goods trains to Merredin, Kalgoorlie, York and Midland Junction. From the 1930s it also began to run to Mullewa and Geraldton.
After an overhaul in 1938, no. 448 was transferred to Kalgoorlie. Passenger and fast goods duties continued, but it also worked mixed goods trains to Leonora. It remained at Kalgoorlie following its renumbering to 508 in 1947, and was then transferred to Narrogin in 1951. From Narrogin it hauled passenger and goods trains to York, Albany and Merredin. Having entered service in black livery, it was painted green following an overhaul in 1953.
No. 508 reached 1,000,000 miles in service during 1961. In the twilight of its working life its duties included main line train working, as well as banking and shunting. From October 1967 no. 508 was the last of the P Class in service. It operated for the final time on 18 July 1968, having covered 1,090,240 miles in service.
No. 508 was officially withdrawn on 10 February 1969 and set aside for preservation. It arrived at the Railway Museum at Bassendean in October 1971.
After more than half a century in preservation at Bassendean, no. 508 is the sole survivor from 25 members of the Western Australian Government Railways P Class.
Bibliography
J Austin, ‘The story of P508 – Railway Museum, Bassendean’, Rail Heritage WA Members Newsletter, July 2020, pp 4–7.
B Gray, Guide to the collection: the railway museum Western Australia¸ Rail Heritage WA, Perth, 2010.
A Gunzburg, A history of W.A.G.R. steam locomotives, Australian Railway Historical Society (WA Division), Perth, 1984.
WH Shepley, ‘Locomotives of the P, Pr, Pm and Pmr Classes of the Western Australian Government Railways’, Australian Railway Historical
Society Bulletin, no. 330, April 1965, pp 67–9.
P Class 4-6-2 steam locomotive no. 508, Railway Museum at Bassendean, Western Australia, 11 October 2009.
