Railways and Tramways of Australia
9 September
Former South Australian Railways Y Class steam locomotive no. 97, National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, 18 January 2017. Photo: David Matheson.
Popular Ys
Y Class steam locomotives Y59 and Y60 entered service in South Australia on 9 September 1885.
During the 1880s railway networks in all Australian states grew rapidly. In South Australia the narrow-gauge line from Port Pirie was quickly moving towards the New South Wales border. The Great Northern Railway (later the Central Australia Railway) was reaching to the north. More motive power was needed to service this expansion.
Seven narrow-gauge Y Class 2-6-0 engines were ordered from Beyer, Peacock and Company in Manchester, England. They all arrived by ship in 1885 and commenced service during September and October. Their road numbers were Y57 to Y63. Y59 and Y60 were the first to begin service.
The Y Class were put to work on the state’s northern narrow-gauge railways, operating further afield as the lines were extended. They hauled ore trains and passenger services from the New South Wales border to Port Pirie. Their versatility also saw them working goods, passenger and mixed trains on the Great Northern Railway.
Further Y Class engines were ordered in batches from Beyer, Peacock and Company, and from James Martin & Company of Gawler in Adelaide. Another two were built at Adelaide’s Islington Workshops. The total of 129 made them the most numerous steam engine class to operate in South Australia. They became popular for their simplicity and ease of maintenance.
As new engines arrived, they were assigned to other areas of the state. Fifty-eight were rebuilt with Belpaire boilers and reclassified as the Yx Class. Eighteen were transferred to Commonwealth Railways during the Second World War.
Some members of the Y Class had remarkable longevity, with the last being withdrawn from service in 1970. Several of the popular Y and Yx Class engines have been preserved.
Bibliography
RE Fluck, R Sampson & KJ Bird, Steam locomotives and railcars of the South Australian Railways, Mile End Railway Museum, Adelaide, 1986.
A Grunbach & WH Callaghan, ‘The colonial mogul in South Australia: the Y and Yx Classes’, Australian Railway History, no. 795, January 2004, pp 3–23.
L Oberg, Locomotives of Australia: 1854 to 2007, Rosenberg, Sydney, 2007.
South Australian Railways Y Class locomotive, about 1906. Photo: State Library of South Australia, B+46722.
South Australian Railways Yx Class locomotive no. 169, 1906. Photo: State Library of South Australia, PRG+280/1/1/225.
South Australian Railways Yx Class locomotive no. 169, 1906. Photo: State Library of South Australia, PRG+280/1/1/225.