Photo courtesy of the late William (Bill) Miller

South Maitland Railways 10 Class HO-Scale

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PROTOTYPE INFORMATION

In 1911 the first of what would become fourteen 2-8-2 tank locomotives were ordered from Beyer, Peacock & Co. Ltd. by the East Greta Coal Mining Company (EGCM).  Contrary to popular belief, they were not designed to match the NSWGR T and TF class (later D50 & D53) standard goods locomotives, as these machines were not being used to connect with the coal mine traffic, but rather because Beyer Peacock had on hand the tooling for the 2-8-0 tender locomotives, it was much easier and cheaper to create a modified machine from the existing design.  Nor was the specification identical to the standard goods locos, it included higher working boiler pressure and a smaller heating area.

At the time of their introduction, the 10 class had the highest tractive effort of any two-cylinder locomotive in Australia. In 1918 the Hebburn Coal Mining Company and the EGCM amalgamated their respective railway interests, creating the South Maitland Railways Pty Ltd. By this time four 10 class were in service. Ten more were built in a number of batches from 1920 to 1925, those that entered service in 1920 having been delayed due to World War One. Because of the withdrawal of older machines and the amalgamation of the two companies locomotive fleets, the numbers of the 10 class were not all consecutive, being numbered as follows; 10, 17-20, 22-28, 30 & 31.

The first five locomotives were originally built with a small 2.3 ton coal bunker, but during the 1940’s these were modified to match the later locomotives 4 ton bunkers.  From 1973 the first locomotive was fitted with an extension to the bunker, enlarging its capacity yet further. Most of the class were to eventually receive this extension.

Many were withdrawn by 1967 due to export downturns, at the lowest point only numbers 18, 20, 23, 25, 30 and 31 were in service. After this time, export demand began to increase, and all were eventually rebuilt and returned to service, after a brief investigation by the SMR of the cost of purchasing diesel locomotives. The late 1960’s – early 70’s accounts for many of the modifications seen over the period, although most are relatively minor. Despite this, due to the simple nature of the design, these small changes have a noticeable visual effect.  These include different rivet patterns on the side tanks, different smoke boxes, location of the sanding boxes and of course the coal bunkers.

All were withdrawn from service at the closure of the South Maitland Railways (SMR) in 1983, except for four locomotives which continued to work the Richmond Vale Railway (RVR) until 1987. However due to the large number of available engines, not all four locomotives at RVR were always the same ones; they were rotated through as maintenance demands required.  All fourteen locomotives worked on the RVR at some point between 1973 to 1987; however for some of them, this was only a few months. At the end, numbers 22, 24, 25 and 30 had the distinction of being the last steam locomotives in operation for commercial service in Australia.

When the RVR closed all fourteen ten class were earmarked for preservation.  Over the last two decades a number of these locomotives have been returned to service, although obviously not all at the same time.  Some have been repainted in colour schemes that the class never carried whilst in commercial service, whilst one, number 18, has been modified a number of times over the years.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

CONTINENTAL MODELLLER REVIEW – FEB 2018

GERRY HOPKINS REVIEW

“After displaying our 10 class at the Epping MRC’s Exhibition in June, I bumped into Gerry Hopkins and had a discussion about the 10 class. Although I  am well acquainted with Gerry and his standing in the modelling community, both as an outstanding modeller and sound guru, we are just acquaintances. It was for both these reasons that I asked Gerry if he would consider making an independent review of the model when an production sound model was available if I loaned him one. Gerry willing accepted the offer and here is his review’.

– Rob (Rocket) Stevenson

BRIAN JACK REVIEW

Southern Rail Models SMR Pty Ltd 10 Class Locomotive Pre-Production Trial

Being a skeptic of the modern factory produced ready to run locomotives, as to their haulage capacity, my fears were allayed following the test we submitted the locomotive to.

The trial was undertaken on the Peter Lewis built layout “A-TRACKTIV EFFORT”, at the Epping Model Railway Exhibition, June 2017.

The train was made up of 32 x 4 wheel loaded coal hoppers with 3 link chain couplings and a white metal CHG brake van kit.

We had used this consist previously and found with the weight and drag of the CHG the chains were kept taught.

This was typical of the 640 ton train run on the SMR system during the 50’s & 60’s.

The loco handled the load with consummate ease. There was no wheel spin. The loco showed all the similarities of the real thing, with gentle swaying and rocking.

Over the weekend the loco was trialed under different load situations in both forward and reverse and reveled under the task.

The model is a lovely replica of all the eras of operation. A real asset to any collection.

-Brian Jack

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