Victorian Railways X class.html



Victorian Railways X Class

VR Newport Workshops photograph of X 28, 1929. The locomotive has not yet been fitted with lamps and cab windows.
Power type	steam
Builder	Newport Workshops
Configuration	2-8-2
Driver size	5 feet 1⅝ inches (1,570 mm)
Length	77 feet 4½ inches (23.58 m)
Axle load	19.25 long tons (19.56 t)
Weight on drivers	74.25 long tons (75.44 t) (roadworthy)
Locomotive weight	181.1 long tons (184.0 t)
Tender capacity	9 long tons (9.1 t) coal, 8,600 imp gal (39,000 l) water
Boiler pressure	205 psi (1,413 kPa)
Fire grate area	42 sq ft (3.9 m2)
Heating surface: Total	3,107 sq ft (289 m2)
Cylinders	2
Cylinder size	22 in (559 mm)×28 in (711 mm)
Tractive effort	39,360 lbf (175.1 kN) (w/o booster),48,360 lbf (215.1 kN) (with booster) at 85% boiler pressure
Number in class	29

The X class was a mainline goods locomotive of the 2-8-2 'Mikado' type that ran on the Victorian Railways between 1929 and 1961. They were the most powerful goods locomotive on the VR until the advent of diesel-electric traction, and operated over the key Bendigo, Wodonga, and Gippsland mainlines.

History

The X class was a development of the earlier C class 2-8-0 goods locomotive, designed to be gauge convertible from 5 feet 3 inches (1,600 mm) broad gauge to 4 feet 8½ inches (1,435 mm) standard gauge in the event of the Victorian Railways network being converted to standard gauge. (The C class, with a narrow firebox between the frames, could not be easily converted.)

The 2-8-2 layout of the X class allowed a wide, deep firebox and large, free steaming boiler. This improved on some key shortcomings of the C class, which were regarded as poor steaming and featured a very long 9 ft 7 in (292 cm) manually stoked firebox that was difficult to fire and prone to clinkering.¹

All but two of the X class (X 35 & 36) featured a Franklin Booster engine on the trailing truck axle, although X 35 eventually gained one. This allowed an additional 9,000 lbf (40 kN) tractive effort at starting and low speeds to increase the hauling power of the locomotive.

Production

The success of the original eleven locomotives delivered in 1929 led to a further eight X class locomotives being built in 1937-38, a further six built in 1942-43,² with a final four X class delivered by 1947.

Regular Service

With their relatively heavy axle load, the X class was initially confined to the Bendigo and Wodonga lines, with the occasional journey on the Ballarat or Geelong lines. In later years after they were allowed to cross the viaduct between Spencer Street Station and Flinders Street Station, they worked goods trains of over 1,000 tons between Morwell and Melbourne, and even worked the South Gippsland line as far as Korumburra.³

The X class locomotive was a marked improvement on the C class in terms of performance, and was renowned for its ability to be driven extremely hard.⁴ As with the C class, it was also pressed into mainline passenger service on key intercity routes, particularly during Christmas and Easter peak times.³

Design Improvements

The X class, like all broad gauge VR steam locomotives from the A2 class onwards, underwent improvements during the 1930s such as modifications to the smokebox, fitting of smoke deflectors, Automatic Staff Exchange apparatus, and cross-compound air compressors. The round-top boilers the original eleven locomotives were built with, prone to priming if too much water was carried,³ and copper fireboxes were replaced with all-steel boilers featuring Belpaire pattern fireboxes. They also featured combustion chambers and thermic syphons to increase power and efficiency.⁵

In July 1938, X 39 became the first VR locomotive to be equipped with A6-ET brake equipment, a feature subsequently incorporated into all new VR steam locomotives.⁶

Experimental use of Pulverised Brown Coal

PBC-fired X 32, hauling a livestock train. The extensive modifications the X class underwent during its service life are evident in this photograph

In 1949, X 32 was fitted with German 'Stug' (Studiengesellschaft) equipment and a specially modified tender for the burning of Pulverised Brown Coal (PBC). The trial was successful and the locomotive was considerably more powerful as a result of the conversion,³ and is even credited with hauling the Spirit of Progress on one occasion, without loss of time.⁴ Victorian Railways went as far as placing tenders for the construction of a further 15 brown-coal fired X class locomotives. However, the successful introduction of mainline diesel-electric locomotives, coupled with a drop in the price of oil against the high cost of installing storage and transport facilities for PBC, saw the discontinuation of the experiment and the additional X class order cancelled. X 32 was taken out of service in 1956 pending repairs, but was instead scrapped in 1957⁷.

Demise

The rapid dieselisation and electrification of Victorian Railways' mainline operations in the 1950s meant that the X class was rendered obsolete as the new B, L and S classes quickly proved their superiority. The X class locomotives were relegated to short-hop transfer goods haulage, a role that as mainline goods locomotives they were unsuitable for.⁴ In 1957 X 43 became the first of the class to be scrapped, and the remainder of the class was rapidly withdrawn during the next four years.

Preservation

X 36, as preserved in the Australian Railway Historical Society museum at North Williamstown

Efforts by railway enthusiasts to save the last remaining X class locomotive from being scrapped led to the establishment of a railway museum and the preservation of examples of many other VR locomotive classes.

By November 1960, just two X class locomotives remained in service⁶ when X 29 was withdrawn and quickly cut up for scrap shortly afterwards. Members of the Australian Railway Historical Society, aware that the X class was about to vanish just as the S class 4-6-2 had six years earlier, approached the Victorian Railway Commissioners suggesting that last remaining X class locomotive X 36 and an example of each of the various other classes still in existence be preserved in a railway museum.⁸ They received the support of the Commissioners, who provided locomotives, land, and tracks for the establishment of the museum, as well as the support of companies and individuals who donated time, labour, materials and finance to complete the project.

X 36, withdrawn in May 1961 after 741,609 miles (1,193,504 km) of service,⁵ is today preserved alongside dozens of other former VR locomotives and rolling stock at the ARHS North Williamstown Railway Museum.

In April 2006 the boiler from scrapped locomotive X 30, obtained by CSR Limited in 1959 to provide steam for Australia's first particle board factory in Oberon, New South Wales, was finally retired from service after 47 years service and allocated to a preservation group.⁴⁹

References

• Pearce et al, North Williamstown Railway Museum, ARHS, Melbourne, 1980, ISBN 0-85849-018-8
• Carlisle, R.M. & Abbott, R.L. Hudson Power, ARHS, Melbourne, 1985, ISBN 0-85849-028-5

Specific

External links

• X class locomotive history and photographs
• VPRS 12800/P1 H 1015 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Steam locomotive X 32, as built with original round-top boiler and prior to modifications for PBC firing
• VPRS 12800/P1 H 1543 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Photograph of X class locomotive hauling goods train across viaduct from Spencer Street to Flinders Street stations, Melbourne
• VPRS 12800/P1 H 5074 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA X 29, hauling freight
• VPRS 12800/P4 RS 0324 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Detail photograph of X class trailing truck and booster engine frame
• VPRS 12903/P1 Box 298/05 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Diagram of booster engine as fitted to X class locomotive
• VPRS 12903/P1 Box 298/01 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Schematic diagram of booster engine operation
• VPRS 12903/P1 Box 454/10 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Steam locomotive X 32 being refuelled with brown coal dust, North Melbourne
• VPRS 12903/P1 Box 496/02 - PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA Dynamometer car test results showing theoretical speeds (in mph) up various grades for locomotive X 32 running on Yallourn brown coal precipitator dust. Note additional low speed increments below line indicating use of booster engine