The Commonwealth Railways K class was a class of

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels ...

freight locomotives built in 1916 by

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

, United Kingdom, 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

In order to operate freight trains on the then under construction

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 ...

ordered eight locomotives of 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 ...

' T class (later the D50 class), but with higher capacity tenders.K class
Chris's Commonwealth Railways Pages All were delivered between March and June 1916. Most had been withdrawn by the early 1950s with the last withdrawn in March 1952 after dieselisation.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{AusLocos, state=collapsed K class NBL locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1916 2-8-0 locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Australia Scrapped locomotives Freight locomotives