Victorian Railways E Class

The E class is a class of suburban tank steam locomotive that ran on Australia's Victorian Railways (VR).

History

During the late 19th century, Victorian Railways had ended up with a mixed fleet of locomotives of various designs, which had caused maintenance difficulties. To solve this, Richard Speight, a VR commissioner who had worked for the Midland Railway, set out a program to adopt standardized locomotive designs based on British practices. Tasked with designing locomotives for the scheme was Edward Alexander Jeffreys, who designed 5 classes of locomotive for Victorian Railways, all using standard parts. These would become the D class and New A class 4-4-0s, the New R class and Y class 0-6-0s, and the E class 2-4-2T.

After the design for Jeffreys' 2-4-2T design was finalised by VR, a contract was awarded to the Phoenix Foundry of Ballarat for construction of 45 locomotives, while an example was built by Kitson & Co of Leeds in 1888 for the Melbourne Centennial Exhibitions at the Royal Exhibitions Building, built to Jeffreys' original design without the local changes done by VR. The engine, named ''Tasmania'', was displayed alongside an example of Jeffery’s 0-6-0 goods engine design (later Y class) named ''Victoria'', also built by Kitson. In 1889, ''Tasmania'' entered service as E426.

Although considered to be a prototype due to it being the first E class delivered, ''Tasmania'' did not serve as the pattern engine of the class, as the Phoenix Foundry examples were already ordered by the time it was built.

In April 1890, Victorian Railways awarded another contract to David Munro & Company of South Melbourne. They would finish their first locomotive in 1892 and built more locomotives until the last one was completed in 1894.

Seventy engines were eventually built locally. They were numbered 346 to 394 (even numbers, Phoenix Foundry), 12, 34, 36, 428 to 460 (even numbers, Phoenix Foundry), and 472 to 520 (even numbers, David Munro).

Phoenix delivered five additional locomotives designated as the E^E class, numbered 462, 464, 466, 468, and 470. These had a new wheel arrangement of 0-6-2T, specifically designed for shunting use. After evaluation, engines 482 and 496 in 1898, followed by 490 and 478 in 1906-1907, were converted to the same format, although the latter two used 170psi boilers and 18-inch cylinders in place of the earlier 140psi boilers and 17-inch cylinders.

E426 (the Kitson locomotive) was the first E class to be withdrawn in 1915, and two more units in 1917. Melbourne's suburban electrification project made the 2-4-2T engines quickly obsolete. Between 1919-1923, twenty were converted to match the nine existing shunters' 0-6-2T configuration (all bar 494 upgraded to 18-inch cylinders), while another twenty-five were withdrawn. Of the latter group, twenty were sold to the South Australian Railways to become their second M class. An additional eighteen were withdrawn in 1924, leaving only a single 2-4-2T type in service.

In the 1923 locomotive renumbering scheme, the E^E class engines were reclassified in the 350-379 group. By 1929, this had expanded to 390, and the group was reclassified as E.

The original 2-4-2T engines were intended to take numbers 236-245 without a class letter. However, only one engine survived long enough to have the new number applied. Thus, 506 became 236.

Class table

Retirements and preservation

In November 1937, E359 became the first 0-6-2T type to be taken off the register, while the remaining engines stayed on the register until the 1950s, with six of them continuing to operate until the early 1960s.

The last original 2-4-2T engine, 236, was used as a shunter at Newport Workshops until it was taken out of service in 1954. The locomotive had been selected by V.R for display at Spencer Street Station to mark the 100th anniversary of Victoria's railways as it was in good enough condition and unaltered from its original form, ultimately sparing it from immediate scrapping. The engine was restored and displayed from the 11th to the 25th of September, 1954. It was then stored at Newport Workshops and later allocated to the newly established ARHS Railway Museum in Newport as one of its first display pieces, where it resides today.

E369 and E377 were written off the register in February 1962, but were kept operational at Newport Workshops to act as yard pilots, which left only E371 to be the last 0-6-2T to be on the register, continuing until being written off in November 1963. E371 was moved to Newport Workshops for storage but returned to operation in 1967 to replace E377, which was poor condition. E377 was later scrapped, leaving only E369 and E371. Both continued to work as yard pilots at Newport Workshops until they were finally retired sometime in 1970.

E369 was placed into storage at Newport awaiting scrapping, but it avoided being broken up. In April 1972, E369 and L1157 were towed by R707 to Spencer Street Station for display purposes. Following this, E369 was once again placed into storage at Newport, but was rescued for preservation in 1973 with efforts of Gerald Dee. E369 now resides at the ARHS's Museum alongside 236.

E371 was also moved into storage at Newport Workshops and remained until the 1980s when it was bought by the Castlemaine & Maldon Railway Group. It would be transferred to Spotswood so it could be dismantled for future restoration. It was eventually found out that the locomotive had sustained significant damage to parts of its frames and boiler, which was considered too costly to repair at the time. Therefore, E371 was reassembled sometime in the 1990s and transferred to Maldon Railway Station for display.
File:Locomotive E236 at Newport Workshops, 1950.jpg, 236 at Newport Workshops, 1950
File:E369 at Newport Railway Museum 2024.jpg, E369 at the Newport Railway Museum
File:Victorian Railways E class locomotive No. 236 at the Newport Railway Museum - May 2017 - 02.jpg, 236 at the Newport Railway Museum
File:Victorian Railways E class locomotive No. 236 builders plate at the Newport Railway Museum - May 2017.jpg, David Munro & Company locomotive builders plate as seen on 236
File:Maldon loco.jpg, E371 on display at Maldon

References

External links

Victorian Preserved Steam Locomotives
detailed information about all surviving ex-VR steam locos.

Diagram of 2-4-2T E class locomotive

Diagram of 0-6-2T E^E class locomotive

Picture of E 446



E 446 Side view

E 250

E^E 494

E 480

E 512

E-class locomotive at Korong Vale

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victorian Railways E Class 1888
2-4-2T locomotives
0-6-2T locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1888
Preserved steam locomotives of Australia
Broad gauge locomotives in Australia
E class 1888
David Munro locomotives
Kitson locomotives
Phoenix locomotives
Passenger locomotives