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526 ‘Duchess of Gloucester’ Scrapped in 1971 |
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An evocative photo of 526 ‘Duchess of Gloucester’ working
hard through the Adelaide Hills.
This undated view was contributed by Lee Moles
and is believed to be taken on the curve coming into Belair Station.
This photo captures the spirit of the
SAR’s broad gauge ‘Big Engines’ which revolutionised operations through the
Adelaide Hills.
Today Belair is the end of the broad-gauge suburban line
into the Adelaide Hills; the right track carrying 526 remains broad gauge and
terminates at Belair Station,
while the left track has been converted to standard gauge and continues as the
interstate link to Melbourne and other points to the East.
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No.526
‘Duchess of Gloucester’ featured on several ARHS SA rail tours in the late
1960’s and early 1970’s and seems to have been a popular performer. Its last
rail tour was to Riverton on 24 April 1971, after which the loco faced an
uncertain future. By mid-1971
sister No.520 remained stored at Islington Railway Workshops but threatened
with imminent scrapping, and so enthusiasts began negotiating with railway
authorities to save at least one and hopefully both Nos.520 and 526. An
inspection revealed No.526’s boiler had only a limited remaining service
life, and not having found much support with authorities to retain either 520
or 526, enthusiasts’ efforts were focussed on an urgent $20,000 fundraising
appeal to save No.520. Sadly No.526 was indeed scrapped around November 1971,
its loss at least spurring on fundraising efforts for No.520 which was
ultimately saved. While No.526 was being scrapped it was observed that its
tender frame was also in very poor condition, thus vindicating the decision
to focus on No.520 instead. It seems not all of No.526 ‘Duchess of Gloucester’ was lost, as some components were retained as heavy spares for sister No.520, notably the driving wheels which are now stored at the SteamRanger depot at Mt Barker. 526's
distinctive nosecone (including chimney and road numbers) was apparently also
saved by an enthusiast and restored, as they were advertised for private sale
in April 2003. As an
aside, the SAR 520-class featured distinctive ‘Shark Nose’ streamlining
similar to the famous Pennsylvania Railroad T1 class locomotives. While none
of those were saved for preservation, an ambitious project by the Pennsylvania
Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust in the USA is creating a new example
No.5550 as a ‘new build’ project. Rx 209
& Rx 216 Kenn
Pearce has provided an interesting and well-illustrated account of efforts to
establish the SteamRanger locomotive fleet in his booklet ‘Saving Steam – The
early years of SAR broad gauge steam preservation’. It is sobering to recall
the race against time to save some of the remaining steam locomotives at
Islington in the early 1970’s. Kenn’s booklet also documents that the last
two broad-gauge SAR steam locomotives to be scrapped were Rx 209 and Rx 216.
These were among four stored at Islington Railway Workshops since the
mid-1960’s awaiting scrapping but retained for some time pending the
possibility of static preservation. While two of the four eventually found
homes, unfortunately the final two met their demise: ·
Rx209 – scrapped in June 1973 · Rx216 (paired an older 6-wheel tender) – scrapped in July 1974 |
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It is
perhaps a pity these two locos were not retained at least as heavy spares for
SteamRanger’s operating Rx-class locos Rx 207 and Rx 224, allowing boiler
swaps and other component exchange to significantly reduce the time needed
for overhauls. |
References
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a |
Fluck R.
E., Sampson R., & Bird K. J. 'Steam locomotives and Railcars of the South
Australian Railways', Published
by The Mile End Railway Museum (SA) Inc, 1986. |
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b |
Pearce, K. ‘Saving Steam – The early years of SAR broad
gauge steam preservation’ Written by Kenn Pearce
based on an interview with Dean Harvey. Published by
Railmac Publications, 2015 ISBN
9781864770995 |
Page updated: 1 August 2022
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