|
|
752 National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide |
|
This photo is courtesy of John
Hurst and dated October 1979, showing 752 statically displayed at the
former Mile End Railway Museum in Adelaide.
752 now resides at the National Railway Museum, Port
Adelaide.
|
Builder |
North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow, Scotland |
|
Builder’s Number & Year |
26787 of 1951 |
|
Wheel Arrangement |
2-8-2 |
|
752 is the
only survivor of the South Australian Railways ‘750 class’ 2-8-2 Mikado
locomotives. The 750 class were in fact second-hand Victorian Railways
N-class locomotives, with 10 examples sold virtually new to the South
Australian Railways (SAR) in 1951 having been rendered surplus to Victorian
Railways requirements due to their rapidly growing diesel locomotive fleet
and the pending delivery of 60 J-class 2-8-0 locos. The South Australian locos
were deployed to the branch lines radiating from Tailem Bend into the Murray
Mallee, together with the South-East lines around Mt Gambier. While the Victorian Railways (VR) N-class design and construction originated at Newport Workshops, Melbourne, the ten SAR 750-class came from a batch of 50 unit supplied in the post-war period by the North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow. Their original VR road numbers and North British builder’s numbers are tabulated below: |
|
SAR No. |
750 |
751 |
752 |
753 |
754 |
755 |
756 |
757 |
758 |
759 |
|
Original VR No. |
N 474 |
N 471 |
N 477 |
N 465 |
N 461 |
N 485 |
N 491 |
N 490 |
N 494 |
N 495 |
|
North
British Builder's No. |
26784 |
26781 |
26787 |
26775 |
26771 |
26795 |
26801 |
26800 |
26804 |
26805 |
|
The 750
class were destined for short working lives on the SAR, with most withdrawn after
a working life of less than ten years. They were outlived by older but more
versatile steam locos such as the Rx-class 4-6-0 they had initially displaced,
and indeed a similar fate befell the VR N-class locos. 752 was last of the
SAR 750-class in steam when withdrawn in November 1964. While the remainder
of the 750 class locomotives were scrapped between 1962 and 1967, fortunately
752 was set aside for preservation and placed on static display at the Mile
End Railway Museum in April 1967. I understand 752 is owned by the History
Trust of SA. Together with other Mile End exhibits it was transferred to the
new Port Dock Station Museum (now the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide) in 1988. For
comparison to the Victorian Railways N-class, refer to sister N 432 which is the only original N-class
locomotive remaining in Victoria. (In addition, a first-series VR N-class
loco N441
is being back-converted from a derelict K-class 2-8-0.) Update
July 2025: The
History Trust of SA has recently provided grant funding to the National
Railway Museum, Port Adelaide for static restoration and repaint of 752, with
the locomotive grit-blasted and returned to pristine display condition. The
following YouTube video provides a good overview of 752’s service history and
the restoration work undertaken: ‘750 class steam locomotive no. 752 -
National Railway Museum - Behind the Scenes’: |
References
|
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. |
|
b |
Wilson,
J. 'The Mile End Railway Museum, the
first ten years', published by the Australian
Railway Historical Society (SA Division) Inc., 1974. |
|
c |
‘The
Mile End Railway Museum’, First Edition: December 1970 Published by the Australian
Railway Historical Society S.A. Division) |
Page updated: 16 July 2025
|
Government Railways: |
|
|||||||||
|
Private & Industrial Railways: |
|