The K-class was a class of 2-8-4T steam locomotives of the Western Australian Government Railways

History

Between October 1893 and August 1898, the WAGR took delivery of 24 K class locomotives from Neilson & Co. They entered service on the Eastern Railway between Midland Junction and Northam. In 1902, they were displaced from this work by the F class. They then mainly operated freight services on the Collie line and within Perth, although they did operate Royal Perth Show and raceday special passenger services.

In 1915, two were repowered with superheated 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 and sent to South Africa to ease a shortage encountered by the Imperial Military Railways resulting from the Boer War, 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.

See also

• Rail transport in Western Australia

• List of Western Australian locomotive classes

References

Notes

Cited works

External links