Victorian Railways H class (1877)


The Victorian Railways H class was a class of light line passenger locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways between 1877 and 1916.

History

During the late 1870s, William Meikle had designed a pair of 4-4-0 locomotives and had them built at Williamstown Workshops. These locomotives would be built using spare parts of engines from the Geelong & Melbourne Railway Company and were numbered 38 and 40. Meikle would develop upon this design and placed an order of 8 from the Phoenix Foundry of Ballarat in 1877. While these were originally unclassed, they were later classed 'H' in 1886.

Production

Upon completion, the locomotives were similar to the 1874 K class and G class in both power and weight, but with driving wheels of 5 feet diameter instead of 4 feet. One strange feature was the inexplicably small grate area. Four-wheeled tenders with a 7-foot wheelbase were fitted.

Regular service

H150 was noted as being in motor service in 1908.

Accidents

  • 26 January 1881 - H160 in accident at Beaufort
  • 26 July 1881 - H160 collided with F98 at Beaufort
  • 1889 - H152 broke driving axle

Withdrawal

All the locomotives were removed from the Victorian Railways register between 1905 and 1916. The boiler of H156 went to the Bendigo sheds in 1912.
H130 was sold to Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway for £600 on 31 May 1909 and was later sold to Smith and Timms, in 1912. It was last seen in 1922 at the Mile End rail yards in South Australia.
A tender from one of the H class locomotives is preserved at the Newport Railway Museum, attached to Crane No. 2. The tender had last been used on Crane No. 3 until its withdrawal in 1978.

Fleet summary

LocomotiveBuilder No.Entered serviceWithdrawnScrappedStatusNotes
H14640Scrapped
H14841Scrapped
H15042ScrappedSold to Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway - 31 May 1909. Sold to Smith and Timms, SA - 1912. Last seen at Mile End, SA - 1922
H15243ScrappedBoiler to Bendigo shed
H15444Scrapped
H15645Scrapped
H15846Scrapped
H16047Scrapped