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C17 No. 820 Scrapped by Gympie Apex Club |
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This family photo is kindly provided by Warren Firth and
shows the unlucky No.820 plinthed in MacDonnell Park, Gympie in 1972.
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Builder |
Sir W
G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd, Newcastle
upon Tyne |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
868
of 1927 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
4-8-0 |
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No. in class |
227 |
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C17
No.820 was one of Queensland Railways’ highly successful C17 class “maid of
all work” 4-8-0 locomotives, with 227 units constructed by a variety of
builders between 1920 and 1953. The “C17”
classification follows QGR nomenclature whereby “C” denotes an 8-coupled locomotive
and “17” references the cylinder diameter (in inches). The C17 design featured a superheated
boiler and was developed from the earlier saturated steam C16 type. The final C17 class members were retired
from service at the very end of Queensland Railways revenue steam operations in
August 1970. According to “Locomotives in the Tropics”, No.820 was written off the Queensland Railways books in October 1967 before being presented to Widgee Shire Council in 1969 and placed on display in MacDonnell Park, Gympie. In 1982 the Gympie Apex Club requested permission from Widgee Shire Council to sell this locomotive for scrap as a fund raising activity. Unfortunately Widgee Shire Council approved the motion and the locomotive was cut up for scrap metal by Gympie Apex Club members in 1982. (I understand that No.820 was in fact still technically owned by the Queensland Government Railways, who were less than pleased that their locomotive had been destroyed in this manner.) The
regrettable scrapping of No.820 provided impetus towards the later rescue of
locomotive C17 No.45 from its plinth in a second Gympie park and the
subsequent formation of the Mary Valley Heritage Railway, with the restored
No.45 becoming their flagship locomotive.
The book 'The Return of Steam Locomotive C17, No. 45' by R. Stark
includes some photographs of unlucky C17 No.820 being dismantled for scrap in
MacDonnell Park by local Apex club members. |
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References
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a |
"Locomotives of
Australia" by Leon Oberg, published by J. W. Books Pty Ltd |
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b |
Stark,
R. J., 'The Return of Steam Locomotive C17, No. 45', published
2000 by The Degener Timms
Publications, Gympie, Queensland |
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c |
Armstrong,
J. 'Locomotives in the Tropics - Volume 2 (Queensland Railways 1910 – 1958 and beyond)’, published by the ARHS Queensland
Division, 1994. |
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e |
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Page updated: 22 October 2015
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