South Australian Railways O class (Second)

The O class was originally built back in 1868 by Robert Stephenson and Company, for the Launceston and Western Railway Company (now called Western Line, Tasmania). The Launceston and Western Railway opened in 1871 and had a track gauge of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), this locomotive was their No. 1. This locomotive was in service with another 4-4-0 type of tank engine for the opening of the line on the 10th of February 1871. With the Tasmanian Government taking over the line in October 1873, this locomotive became a member of their A class. In 1885 the line was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and the four A class locomotives became redundant. In 1888 No. 1 was sold to a private company in Victoria "The Great Victoria Colliery" for use between mines at Woolamai and a jetty at Queensferry. Not long after it began its work for this private company it was put into storage until 1910. It was then sold to Smith and Timms for use on the construction of the railway line to Angaston from Gawler in South Australia. The side tanks were removed, which left the locomotive with only a small tank. It was supplemented with a small four wheeled tank which was coupled to the engine. Once construction was completed on the Gawler to Angaston line the contractors sold locomotive No. 1 to the South Australian Railways in February 1912 and it was renumbered 204. No. 204 eventually got classed as the second O on the S.A.R. network between 1918 and 1919. The O classes service on the S.A.R. mainly consisted of shunting at Mile End and Port Adelaide, during this period it got a boiler off a Q class locomotive during a rebuild at Islington Railway Workshops.[2]