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1021 NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere |
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1021 displayed at the NSW Rail Transport Museum, Thirlmere
on 5 March 2006.
The lined Royal Blue livery with
‘Cardiff’ name apparently replicates that applied in 1952 when employed as the
Cardiff Workshops shunter.
1021 has since received a thorough static
restoration and now provides a backdrop to the theatrette at the NSW Rail
Museum, Thirlmere.
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Builder |
Leeds,
England |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
1896
of 1916 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
0-4-0ST |
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This
interesting little loco was built by Manning Wardle & Co to their standard
‘H-Class’ design for building contractor and industrial purposes. It was one
of a batch of five imported by the NSW Public Works Department (Nos. 59 – 63)
for various construction duties, before being transferred to the NSW Government
Railways in 1917 where they received the numbers F 1212 to F 1216. The NSW
Government Railways (NSWGR) soon disposed 4 of these units for further
construction and industrial use, retaining only the first (PWD No.59 / NSWGR
F 1212). It became 1021 among the X10 grouping of miscellaneous shunting,
workshop luffing cranes and obsolete locomotives in the NSWGR 1924
renumbering scheme. 1021 spent
most of its NSWGR career as a locomotive depot & workshops shunter at
Enfield and Cardiff before retirement in 1970. Fortunately, was retained for
the collection of the NSW Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM, forerunner to the
current NSW Rail Museum under Transport Heritage NSW), initially at Enfield
before being transferred to the Thirlmere museum site. 1021 was
statically restored by NSWRTM volunteers during the early 1970's in an
attractive lined Royal Blue livery, replicating that applied in 1952 when it
was the Cardiff Workshops shunter. A treasured book among the webmaster’s
collection is the NSWRTM exhibit booklet ‘Locomotives: A Guide – Enfield
Railway Museum’ – a souvenir of a visit to the Enfield museum in 1974 – which
provides one of author Gifford Eardley’s typically engaging histories of loco
1021. The illustrating photo for 1021 (alas in B&W) is dated 1954 and shows
her wearing an immaculate lined livery, lettered and numbered ‘Cardiff 1021’,
which appears to be the royal blue livery replicated during restoration.
Unfortunately, 1021’s resplendent livery faded during the early years of
open-air display at the NSWRTM Thirlmere site from 1975 until the overall
roof had been extended to provide shelter by the 1990’s. (The 1954 photo also
shows a very large and prominent whistle – perhaps a bullroarer – protruding
from the cab roof, which must have given the little loco a formidable
presence while shuffling around the Cardiff workshops yards!) During
2010 this little locomotive was the beneficiary of restoration funding
provided by RailCorp and it received a thorough repaint and refurbishment in
the Thirlmere workshops. 1021 has since been placed on display within the
theatrette of the new exhibition building at Thirlmere, where it provides a
backdrop to a workshops themed audiovisual display. Here it is thoroughly
protected from the elements, and the restored loco remains bright &
shining in its new abode. A sister
Manning Wardle H-Class loco is also preserved in Australia, B/N 1781 of 1911 in the Powerhouse
Museum collection. A browse through the World Steam website reveals all other Manning Wardle & Co locomotives surviving worldwide, with the family likeness evident: https://www.steamlocomotive.info/locobrowse.cfm?bn=Manning%20Wardle |
Joel Turner has kindly contributed this view of 1021 acting
as a prop in the theatrette at the NSW Rail Museum on 10 December 2012.
(At that stage, the brass builder’s plate
was yet to be reattached to the cabside. No loco whistle is evident!)
1021 now stars in an innovative audio-visual
display in the theatrette.
(The industrial bric-a-brac in the right foreground acts as
a display screen.)
The Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd builder’s plate attached
to 1021’s cabside, showing builder’s no.1896 of 1916. Photo date: 17 May 2026
References
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a |
Eardley, G.
H. 'Locomotives:
A Guide - Enfield Railway Museum', published
by the NSWRTM, 1973 |
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b |
‘A
Compendium of New South Wales Steam Locomotives’ compiled
by Alex Grunbach, published
by the Australian Railway Historical Society, New South
Wales Division, 1989. |
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c |
‘Steam Locomotive
Data’ July 1974 edition, compiled
by J. H. Forsyth for the Public
Transport Commission of NSW. |
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d |
Wikipedia
page for Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd Retrieved
2 June 2026. |
Page updated: 12 June 2026
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