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C17 No. 988 Once masquerading as 5972 Hogwarts Castle! |
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No.988 displayed at the
Archer Park Station & Tram Museum, Rockhampton on 7 May 2013, with thanks
to Joel Turner for contributing this photo.
The loco is wearing authentic “Brown Bomber” livery and
also sports a cast iron chimney, rather than the original stovepipe variety.
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Builder |
Walkers
Limited, Maryborough |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
525 of 1952 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
4-8-0 |
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No. in class |
227 |
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No.988
is one of Queensland Railways’ highly successful C17 class 4-8-0 locomotives of
which 227 units were constructed by a variety of builders between 1920 and
1953. The C17’s were a “maid of all
work” type that were powerful enough for main line freight duties, yet with a
low axle load which permitted wide deployment and accordingly they could be
found on everything from suburban and express passenger trains to main,
secondary and branch line freight and mixed traffic work, although the type
are perhaps best associated with the long rural routes through Queensland
Railways’ (QR) Northern and Central Divisions. The final C17 class members were retired at
the very end of QR revenue steam operations in August 1970. No
988 represents the final “1950 design” of C17 which featured Timken roller
bearings on all axles, together with the “1938 design” improvements of piston
valves, Laird crossheads, a wider & taller sedan cab with sliding
windows, a slender stovepipe chimney with capuchion lip and a higher-capacity
tender. It is one of the final 40
C17’s known as “Brown Bombers” due to their original livery of handsome
mid-brown with green lining. No.988
was placed in Queensland Government Railways service during June 1952 and
written off in November 1969 after a working life of 17 years. Following retirement it was placed in a
Cairns park on behalf of Trinity Bay Lions and Rotary clubs, with ownership
if the locomotive remaining with Queensland Rail. Apparently No.988 was later removed from
the park and displayed at Cairns station in connection with a local rail
historical event. No.988 was assessed
for overhaul by Queensland Rail (QR) in late 1980's with a view to use on their
popular tourist train which runs from Cairns up the escarpment to the market
town of Kuranda. Unfortunately this restoration
did not proceed and No.988 was subsequently stored in Cairns yard for several
years, apparently somewhat incomplete and sans boiler cladding. A
change in No.988’s fortunes came during November 2001 when it was leased by
QR to Movieworld, Coomera. It moved
from Cairns to the south of the state, being cosmetically restored and
painted to bright red livery to represent “No.5972 Hogwarts Castle” of Harry
Potter fame and becoming the centrepiece of the Harry Potter display at
Movieworld. (The locomotive used in
the Harry Potter films is in fact ex-Great Western Railway ‘Hall-class’ 4-6-0
No.5972 Olton Hall, with many of the railway scenes filmed in Scotland.) Another move for No.988 came on 25
May 2011 when it was relocated from Movieworld, Coomera to the Archer Park
Station & Steam Tram Museum, Rockhampton. Here it is displayed under the station roof
in authentic Brown
Bomber livery of mid-brown with green lining. For
further information about the Queensland Railways’ C17 class locomotives,
refer to the page for C17 No.2. |
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This photo is kindly
provided by Ken McHugh and shows 988 at Movieworld in June 2003.
This photo later appeared in Steam Railway magazine!
References
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a |
"Locomotives of
Australia" by Leon Oberg, published by J. W. Books Pty Ltd |
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b |
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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c |
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observation or comment |
Page updated: 28 November 2015
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