The Commonwealth Railways C class was a class of passenger locomotives built in 1938 by

Walkers Limited Walkers Limited was an Australian engineering company, based in Maryborough, Queensland. It built ships and railway locomotives. The Walkers factory still produces railway locomotives and rolling stock as part of Downer Rail. History In ...

, Maryborough, for the

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. O ...

, Australia.

History

Following the extension of Commonwealth Railways' standard gauge line from

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a seaport, it is now a road traffic and railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about north of the state c ...

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

in 1937, and with increasing loads being hauled on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...

, an order was placed with

, Maryborough for eight 4-6-0 passenger locomotives to the same design as the

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of diffe ...

' C36 class, but with higher capacity tenders.C class
Chris's Commonwealth Railways Pages All were delivered between January and April 1938. The new locomotives were able to shave 10 hours off the journey time of the ''

Trans Australian The ''Trans-Australian'' (originally known as the ''Trans-Australian Express'') was an Australian passenger train operated by the Commonwealth Railways initially between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie on the Trans-Australian Railway line, and lat ...

''. Four were converted to burn oil during the 1949 coal strike, being converted back to coal burning after the strike ended. With the arrival of the GM class diesels, the first was withdrawn in January 1952 and by early 1953 only two remained. The last was withdrawn in September 1957. The locomotives were scrapped, but the tenders were converted into water carriers for use on the Commonwealth Railways weed killer train, still being in use in the early 1980s.

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External links

{{AusLocos, state=collapsed C class Railway locomotives introduced in 1938 Walkers Limited locomotives 4-6-0 locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Australia Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives