Queensland Government Rlys 2-8-2 Locomotives in Australia

Class 8D15 (Locobase 13761)

Data from the Queensland Railways Interest Group's website at [], last accessed 21 January 2012. Dubs works numbers were 2010-2012 in 1885; 2014, 2013 in 1884.

QRIG credits the QLD's Hornblow with pushing for these more powerful tanks to handle the greater goods and mineral-train traffic over the Main Range to Toowoomba. Dubs supplied these so-called "Donald Dinnies"(named after a famous heavy-stone lifter of the day), which did the trick. Oscillations on bridges were successfully reduced by adding 1,400 lb (12 1/2 cwt) to the engines.

By 1890, however, the Central Division engines proved much too short-ranged for their duties and Ipswich added B13 tenders and removed the trailing axle. These 2-8-0s put 55,104 lb (24.6 long tons) on the drivers and weighed 63,616 lb (28.4 long tons). Their tenders held twice as much coal (4 long tons/4.4 short tons) and 1,400 Imp gallons (1,680 US gal).

All 5 were reboilered in 1903; see Locobase 13762-13763.

Class 8D15 - reboilered (Locobase 13762)

Data from the Queensland Railways Interest Group's website at [], last accessed 21 January 2012.

Remaking the 8D15s in 1903 from the 1885 engines described in Locobase 13761 was confined to a new boiler and firebox. The grate was slightly larger, the boiler somewhat smaller. Adhesion weight increased by 1 1/2 long tons while engine weight remained the same.

In their altered state, the 3 Mikado tanks operated until they were withdrawn in October 1922.

Class AC16 (Locobase 4390)

Part of the worldwide distribution of the US Army Transportation Corps S118 Dual-Gauge African Theatre design (see Locobase 434). This Mikado - an "American" C16, hence the AC16 -- supplemented but did not supplant the C17s Twelve-Wheelers.

An article on the [] website notes that the origin for this class came from a Queensland Railways plan to order 20 more C17 4-8-0s from the US. A Baldwin counter-proposal suggested building a 2-8-2 design that could be delivered sooner than copying a wheel arrangement that had seen little service in North America. Soon, the US settled on the MacArthur design that had been developed for several narrow-gauge railroads.

Sixty were promised, but ultimately 20 arrived (Baldwin works numbers were 69451-69459 produced in February 1943, 69460-69470 in March), later than originally hoped, more expensive, and apparently less capable. And the laundry list of complaints suggested a poor fit between locomotive and railway. In particular the axle boxes suffered high wear even as the locomotives squeezed out the track. Perhaps the main reason was the very light rail (41 3/4 lb per yard) and indifferent quality of the underlying ballast.

Also the tender jumped around alarmingly at speeds above 30 mph because of lively springing. According to [] (4 April 2004), that was due to a design flaw in the tender that allowed the coal plate to drop all the way to the floor. When the tender was nearly empty, its front bogie would have little or no weight on it and the tender would jump.

But all would be put right. The QR was able to reprofile the driver tread, trim some thickness of the flanges on the second and third driver sets, substitute brass axle boxes for the cast-iron originals. Finally in 1959 the standard C16 tender proved the answer for the jumpy tenders.

Ultimately, the verdict turned favorable because, according to the account, these locomotives could pull the same load as a C17. Moreover, "In service, they proved they could handle those loads well, particularly on heavy rising grades. This was due to an excellent boiler with its ability to supply steam to the cylinders and it made them a good worker."

Withdrawals only began in the last 1960s.