The Victorian Railways H class was a class of light line passenger locomotives operated by the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

between 1877 and 1916.

History

During the late 1870s, William Meikle had designed a pair of 4-4-0 locomotives and had them built at Williamstown Workshops. These locomotives would be built using spare parts of engines from the Geelong & Melbourne Railway Company and were numbered 38 and 40 (later

G class G class or Class G may refer to: Railways * NZR G class (1928), a type of steam locomotive used in New Zealand * Tasmanian Government Railways G class, a class of 0-4-2T steam locomotive used in Australia * V/Line G class, a class of diesel-ele ...

). Meikle would develop upon this design and placed an order of 8 from the

Phoenix Foundry The Phoenix Foundry was a company that built steam locomotives and other industrial machinery in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Over 30 years they built 352 locomotives for the Victorian Railways, of 38 different designs. History ...

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

in 1877. While these were originally unclassed, they were later classed 'H' in 1886.

Production

Upon completion, the locomotives were similar to the 1874 K class and

in both power and weight, but with driving wheels of 5 feet diameter instead of 4 feet. One strange feature was the inexplicably small grate area. Four-wheeled tenders with a 7-foot wheelbase were fitted.

Regular service

H150 was noted as being in motor service in 1908.

Design improvements

Accidents

*26 January 1881 - H160 in accident at Beaufort *26 July 1881 - H160 collided with F98 at Beaufort *1889 - H152 broke driving axle

Withdrawal

All the locomotives were removed from the Victorian Railways register between 1905 and 1916. The boiler of H156 went to the Bendigo sheds in 1912. H130 was sold to Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway for £600 on 31 May 1909 and was later sold to Smith and Timms, in 1912. It was last seen in 1922 at the Mile End rail yards in South Australia. A tender from one of the H class locomotives is preserved at the

Newport Railway Museum The Newport Railway Museum is located on Champion Road, Newport, Victoria, near the North Williamstown railway station, North Williamstown station. History The museum opened on 10 November 1962, after the Australian Railway Historical Society (A ...

, attached to Crane No. 2. The tender had last been used on Crane No. 3 (ex- Z526) until its withdrawal in 1978.

Fleet summary

References

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Specific

{{VRLocos 4-4-0 locomotives 2′B n2 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1877 Victorian Railways H class steam (1877) Broad gauge locomotives in Australia H class steam (1877) Phoenix locomotives Passenger locomotives