The K-class was a class of

2-8-4 Under the Whyte notation, a 2-8-4 is a steam locomotive that has two unpowered leading wheels, followed by eight coupled and powered driving wheels, and four trailing wheels. This locomotive type is most often referred to as a Berkshire, thoug ...

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 ...

s of the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respon ...

History

Between October 1893 and August 1898, the WAGR took delivery of 24 K class locomotives from

Neilson & Co Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines. In 1837 the firm moved to Hyde Par ...

. They entered service on the Eastern Railway between

Midland Junction Midland is a suburb and historic town of Perth, Western Australia, located northeast of Perth's central business district. It is the administrative seat and commercial centre of the City of Swan local government area. It is also a designate ...

and Northam. In 1902, they were displaced from this work by the F class. They then mainly operated freight services on the

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many type ...

line and within

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, although they did operate Royal Perth Show and raceday special passenger services. In 1915, two were repowered with

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

boilers. A further three followed, but all were converted back by 1937. Further reboilerings increased tractive effort by over . Six examples originally intended for the WAGR were purchased by the

British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

and sent to South Africa to ease a shortage encountered by the Imperial Military Railways resulting from the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

, where they became the C class.

Class lists

The numbers and periods in service of each member of the K class were as follows:

Namesakes

The "K" designation was previously used by the K class of 1891, which in turn were reclassified as the L class. It was reused in the 1960s when the K class diesel locomotives entered service.

References

Notes

Cited works

External links

{{WAGR Locomotives Neilson locomotives Neilson Reid locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1893 K WAGR class (1893) 2-8-4T locomotives 1′D2′ locomotives 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Scrapped locomotives