The South Australian Railways 520 class, also known as "The Whispering Giants", is a class of

streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...

4-8-4 'Northern' type

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

operated by the former

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

. The 520 class is one of the fastest Australian-built

s, with engine 520 holding a verified speed record of over 78mph on the

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. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...

line on 10 November 1943.

History

During the war years in the early 1940s, the

(SAR) had a desperate need for additional tractive power on increasingly growing troop and supply trains and with the combined need for quick acceleration and high speed running on the flat and generally straight mainlines to the north of Adelaide to

, as well as power "under the belt" for the long , 1-in-45 (2.2%) graded slog up the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, a new locomotive design was required by the SAR. With this in mind, the 520 class was commissioned, combining the better features of the earlier

500 500 may refer to: * 500 (number) * 500 BC * AD 500 Buildings and places * 500 Boylston Street in Boston * 500 Brickell in Miami * 500 Capitol Mall in Sacramento * 500 Fifth Avenue * 500 Renaissance Center, one of seven buildings in the GM ...

and

620 __NOTOC__ Year 620 ( DCXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The designation 620 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for ...

class locomotives. The SAR 520 class was notably featured in the 2016 film '' Thomas & Friends: The Great Race'', as an engine known as "Shane". Shane returned in the twenty-second series of ''

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry, Christopher, the series was developed for ...

'', voiced by Australian media personality,

Shane Jacobson Shane Jacobson (born 18 March 1970) is an Australian actor, entertainer, director, writer, and comedian, best known as the " Dunny Man" for his performances as the eponymous character Kenny Smyth, a plumber working for a portable toilet rental ...

. The 520 class was the only Australian locomotive to appear in the franchise.

Design

The class used the

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type wa ...

configuration of the modified 500B class, but was also designed for work on

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

s with light rail with a reduced tender load. The considerable weight of the locomotive was spread over eight axles, four driving and four in the leading and trailing trucks, yielding the necessary light axle loading for operation over the aforementioned territory. The 520s used this to the fullest, their normal mainline stamping grounds being on fast track express services on the Pirie line, namely the East-West Express, but also serving upon many of the

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina (South Australia), Lake Al ...

mixed and radiating branchline trains. The only lines that they were restricted from running on were those laid with very light rail. The 520 class is arguably the most striking and unique out of all Australian steam locomotives. The class features extravagant streamlining, in the style of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

's T1 in the United States. The original streamlining was more closely based on the T1, and class members 520-522 were fitted with such. Members 523-531 were built with a narrower front profile, attributed to by the "crown" of grill around the chimney front. The earlier streamlined model had a lower front, resulting in a squat chimney profile extended from an otherwise graceful streamlined casing. During their service life, some of the class lost the cowling around their front

buffer beam A headstock of a rail vehicle is a transverse structural member located at the extreme end of the vehicle's underframe. The headstock supports the coupling at that end of the vehicle, and may also support buffers, in which case it may also be ...

, a move which simplified maintenance.
National Railway Museum The 520 class locomotives were noted for their impressive displays of power and speed. They featured specially balanced driving wheels that while only in diameter, were designed for operation, and were also the first locomotives in Australia to feature Timken Company, Timken

roller bearing In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing,ISO 15 is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls, cylinders, or cones) between two concentric, grooved rings called race ...

s on all axles. Classleader 520 attained a speed of between Red Hill and Port Pirie when it entered service on 10 November 1943. Surviving test records show the locomotive was capable of developing an indicated horsepower output of at 70 mph while hauling a load. A total of 12 locomotives were built at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.830 class, as repairs, namely to boilers, were required. The 520s were the first class in South Australia, and possibly Australia, to facilitate the use of completely welded boiler assemblies, an idea adopted by their designer Frank Hugh Harrison after a trip to the United States of America. The long boiler tubes of the 520 class required the blower to be on while in yards, sidings and stations, and while drifting, to prevent blowback or entry of smoke into the almost entirely closed cab. On these occasions, the locomotives emitted a quiet "whispering" sound.

Preservation

Two have been preserved: *520 at SteamRanger, was operational until 1998, when necessary repairs to the boiler, namely the removal of oil burning equipment, and a rusted tender frame, sidelined the engine. it is being restored to operational condition.Loco 520 Restoration Appeal
/ref> *523 at the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum (NRM) is a museum in York, England, forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historical ...

in Port Adelaide, had been used extensively as a tour engine, failing on its final farewell

Australian Railway Historical Society The Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) has been a railway organisation concerned with history and preservation of railway heritage at a national level. It has had divisions in every state and the Australian Capital Territory, althou ...

trip at Balhannah in the late 1960s.

Class list

References

External links

{{South Australian Railways locos, state=expanded

520 __NOTOC__ Year 520 ( DXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Vitalianus (or, less frequently, year 1273 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...