2-8-2 Steam Locomotives in Australia

Class 700 (Locobase 2421)

Data from Chris Drymalik, [], last accessed 29 June 2009. Commonwealth Railways L class for details.

[]; and "Freight Locomotive, South Australian Railways", XXXII [32], No 407 (15 July 2025), p. 205-207. and "New Locomotives for the South Australian Railways", Railway Engineer, Volume 47, No 2 (February 1926), 67-70 and 219. Works numbers were 643-652 in 1924.

Known as the "Mighty 700", these engines were designed by FJ Shea, Chief Mechanical Engineer. Locobase 11057 describes the next ten, which were built in SAR's Islington shops.

Firebox heating surface area included arch tubes supporting a firebrick arch. Small tubes supplied 1,583 sq ft (147.07 sq m) to the evaporative heating surface area and the flues added 817 sq ft (75.9 sq m). The equalizer system split between the front three axles and the rear three axles by linking the end trucks with the nearest two coupled axles.

A later batch of ten delivered in the late 1940s included Alco reversing gear. These were known as MacArthurs because "Mikado" had fallen into disrepute during World War II.

See Commonwealth Railways L class for details.

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Class 710 (Locobase 11057)

Data from diagram archived on the steam4me site ([] . See also Chris Drymalik, [], last accessed 9 December 2009; "South Australian Rys New 'Mikado' Type Locomotives", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXXV [37], No 437 (15 January 1929), pp. 2-3;

After taking delivery of the Armstrong-Whitworth-built 700-class Mikados, Chief Mechanic F J Shea determined that he could built 10 more at the SAR's shops in Islington. Tube and flue count was reduced, but weight increased, while most of the other dimensions were identical. Also, some were fitted with two thermic syphons that added 32.2 sq ft to the firebox heating surface.

710s remained in service for at least 35 years each and each traveled at least 600,000 miles in service.

Class 740 (Locobase 5689)

Data from Douglas Colquhoun's entries presented in the Australian national railway museum site: [] (visited 14 October 2003).

These were repeats of the 700 class built well after World War II against an order for 40 locomotives by the new People's Republic of China. That order was cancelled and Clyde sent 10 of them to the SAR.. A short service life ended for most of them ended in 1963-1964.