Loco 1308

Locomotive 1308

About the exhibit

Under restoration
CLASS CC(79) (pre 1924), Z13 (1924 classification)
TYPE — 4-4-2T SUBURBAN STEAM PASSENGER SIDE TANK — 20 IN CLASS

in 1985 was placed on long-term loan to the Parramatta Park Steam Tramway & Museum for restoration to working order. (e)

By 1988 locomotive 1308 was dismantled for overhaul at Parramatta Park and restoration of the frames and other components was underway.  However tragedy struck in May 1993 when the Parramatta Park Steam Tramway & Museum depot was destroyed by arson. The dismantled components of 1308 were then returned to Thirlmere and stored at various locations around the NSWRTM site and within a S-truck.

The Parramatta Park Steam Tramway & Museum relocated the surviving items of their collection to the Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum and have since rebuilt key exhibits and operations.  In late 2008 / early 2009 the dismantled components of 1308 were also relocated to Valley Heights.

1308 is currently undergoing long term restoration at Valley Heights.

Custodian

Steam Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-op) Society trading as Valley Heights Steam Tramway

History

Between 1896 and 1902, some 20 of the C(79) class (Z12 class in the 1924 classification) became surplus and were adapted for further use by conversion to tank locomotives. The frames were extended to the rear, over a trailing pair of wheels in Webb radial axle boxes, and side tanks and a bunker were fitted. Also Belpaire type boilers were fitted to all but two of the locomotives. They were then able to supplement the hardpressed M(40), Q( 158) and older classes in maintaining the rapidly growing suburban services of Sydney.

When released from this work by the advent of the S (636) class (C30 class in the 1924 classification) from 1903 onward, they were allotted minor roles, such as working the Morpeth, Warren and Carlingford branches and, in later years, the Picton-Mittagong loop line, Yass Town branch, the Coffs Harbour-Kempsey and Casino Border Loop schoolchildren's trains. One unusual task, in vogue for a short period, was to act as a push-up engine on the Brisbane Expresses on Lawrence Road Bank, North of Grafton.

Like the original C(79)-class they clearly indicated their derivation from the well-known 4-4-0T tank engines of 1863, once used on the Metropolitan and District Railways in London.

Nos. 83 and 84 were sold to East Greta Mining & Railway Company, for working passenger trains between Maitland and Cessnock or Stanford Merthyr, in 1908, when still fitted with a round-top firebox. No. 87 WIIS sold to Ashtonfields Colliery, Thornton, in 1922.

Technical

More information and photos

Australian Steam — Preserved Steam Locomotives Down Under — New South Wales Government Railways, accessed 2020-09-13

New South Wales Z13 class locomotive, Wikipedia, accessed 2020-09-13

Steam Locomotive 1307 preserved at Yass Railway Museum, accessed 2020-09-13