Esquimalt & Nanaimo/Union Colliery 4-6-0 Locomotives in Canada

Class 6 (Locobase 15690)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 21, p. 11 and CP 1911-24 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also "The Official Webpage of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association, E & N Division" at []; and Wellington Colliery Company", BC Memory: The British Columbia Archival Information Network at [], both last accessed 11 January 2014. Works numbers were 15322 in May 1897 (E&N), 15771 in January 1898 (UC), 16412 in December (UC), 17370 in January 1900 (E&N), and 18542 in January 1901 (E&N).

The E&N was originally formed in 1883 as part of the treaty providing for the incorporation of British Columbia into the Canadian Confederation. Because it offered little benefit to the Canadian Pacific, the E&N was built by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir in league with three of the four founders of the Central Pacific in California (Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Leland Stanford).

Dunsmuir benefited considerably from the land grants and willingly drove the last spike in 1886 on a route that linked the two named towns with 71.4 miles (115 km) of line. After further extensions reached the provincial capital of Victoria, Robert died in 1889 and his son James took over.

It was during the latter part of James Dunsmuir's ownership that the E&N bought these Ten-wheelers. They were not particularly big or powerful, but they were new and they suited Dunsmuir's requirements for coal locomotives. Two more were delivered directly to his Union Colliery. The UC was combined with the Wellington Colliery Company in 1902 as the now-incorporated Wellington Colliery Company Limited.

When the CPR bought the E&N Railway in 1905, Dunsmuir created the Wellington Colliery Railway to support his coal operations and operated the quintet