Queensland A10 Neilson class locomotive

The A10 Neilson class steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

is a 0-4-2

0-4-2

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-2 represents the wheel arrangement with no leading wheels, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...

locomotive of the Queensland Railways(QR).

The locomotives operated on 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. The “A”, is used to identify the number of coupled wheels, being four coupled wheels for the A10 class, followed by numerals indicating the cylinder diameter of ten inches.

Overview

There were 12 locomotives bought by Queensland Government Railways. Eight were built for the Southern and Western Railway based on Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

and another four for the Central Railway at Rockhampton

Rockhampton

Rockhampton can refer to:* Rockhampton, Queensland is a city in Queensland, Australia* Rockhampton City, Queensland, a suburb of Rockhampton, Queensland* Electoral district of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia...

. One engine was also constructed for Peto, Brassey and Betts

Peto, Brassey and Betts

Peto, Brassey and Betts was a civil engineering partnership between Samuel Morton Peto, Thomas Brassey and Edward Betts. They built a supply and casualty transport railway from Balaclava port to the siege lines south east of Sevastopol in 1855 during the Crimean War. The supply line was...

, a railway contractor building the line to Toowoomba. This was later purchased by the railway in 1876. These locomotives were built by Neilson and Company

Neilson and Company

Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines...

of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

between 1865 and 1866. All engines were fitted with injectors instead of feed pumps when built.

4D10 tank engine conversions

Four engines were converted to 4D10 tank engines, the “D”, is used to identify the locomotive as a Tank Engine, followed by numerals indicating the cylinder diameter of ten inches, the number “4” was used to denote the number of coupled wheels before the “D”.

The 20th century

Five engines survived the turn of the century although four of them were written off in 1902. N°3 continued in use shunting Bowen Jetty until 1914. It was then stored at Ipswich Workshops and restored to working order for the Railway Pageant in 1936. Afterwards it was preserved near Countess Street in Roma Street railway yard before being moved to Limestone Park at Ipswich in 1959.

Numbering

From: Queensland's Railways Interest Group

QR number	Works number	Year built
4	1168	1865
5	1167	1865
6	1170	1865
7	1169	1865
8	1244	1866
9	1208	1866
10	1209	1866
11	1210	1866
12	1211	1866
13	1213	1866
14	1215	1866
2	1212	1866
3	1214	1866

Preservation

N°6 was sold to Gibson & Howes in 1896 for use on their Wattawa line. It was reboilered in 1955 and continued to serve the company until 1965 when it was presented to QR for Centenary Celebrations. The engine is retained at Ipswich Workshops in working order.

External links

http://www.qrig.org/motive-power/locomotives/steam/a10-neilson-originally-b-class
http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Learning+Resources/~/media/Documents/Learning%20resources/TWRM/Fact%20sheets/a10-no6-fs.pdf