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A & D Munro – Shay No.2 Illawarra Light Railway & Museum, Albion Park |
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My thanks to Jason Gundlach for this view of the repaired
bogies & frame of Lima B/No. 2097 in January 2005.
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Builder |
Lima
Locomotive Works, |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
2097 of 1908 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
A-Type (2-truck, 2 cylinders) |
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A & D
Munro built a private tramway to feed timber to their sawmill at Palmtree and
to provide a connection with the Queensland Government Railways line at
Hampton. Known as Munro's Hampton Tramway, this line was built to 2' 6"
gauge and with very steep gradients of up to 1:9. The line followed
Perseverance Creek for part of its length and is sometimes referred to as
Munro's Hampton-Perseverance Tram. Shay locomotives were ideal for work on
steep logging lines and accordingly A & D Munro ordered a small A-type
Shay locomotive from the Lima Locomotive Works, Ohio. Lima builder's number
906 of 1904 became No.1 on Munro's Hampton Tramway and it was later joined by
a virtually identical sister No.2, Lima builder's number 2097 of 1908. The
two small Munro Shay locos had 2 bogies and two cylinders (7” diameter x 12”
stroke) and were wood-fired. Munro's
Hampton Tramway closed in 1936 but the two Shay locomotives remained at the
Palmtree sawmill site, slowly slipping into dereliction. At some stage they
were scavenged for scrap metal, with damage to the boilers showing that
explosives were used to remove the cylinder assemblies. Significant
components of the two Shay locomotives survived at the Palmtree sawmill site
and these remnants were donated to the Illawarra Light Railway Society in
1974. The
surviving Munro Hampton Shay components were delivered to the Illawarra Light
Railway & Museum (ILR&M) at Albion Park in 1974, including the boiler
of No.1 and the boiler, frame and bunker of No.2. These were reassembled to
form a static display of locomotive No.2, which could be seen at the Albion
Park museum in the 1978-79 period. No.2 was then dismantled as the first step
of an intended restoration to operation; when restored it was planned to be
known as No.1 (Lima 906) with some minor parts from No.2 (Lima 2097). New
main beams were fitted to create a viable frame, and two spare 2' gauge Shay trucks
from the Mapleton Tramway Shays were
overhauled. I understand both of the original Shay boilers are beyond repair
and accordingly it was intended to use a spare Davenport locomotive boiler. In 2006, surplus
parts from sister locomotive Munro No.1 (Lima B/No.906 of 1904) were sold by
the ILR&M to Sketches Mountain Resort at Ravensbourne, Queensland, where
it was intended to display a statically restored locomotive. This plan later
faltered with the sale of the resort, but a new group subsequently formed,
the Munro Tramway Historical Group Inc., and took over the Shay locomotive
parts. I understand these parts were subsequently augmented by further spare
Shay components ex-ILR&M and on 30 March 2019 the group completed their
project with A & D Munro Shay No.1 displayed under a weather roof at
Ravensbourne (Sports Grounds). I believe the ILR&M project will now be
known as A&D Munro Shay No.2 (B/No. 2097 of 1908) but I understand the
project is effectively on hold, pending the required significant funding for
the many new and reconditioned parts that are needed to complete an
operational locomotive. The
Illawarra Light Railway & Museum website includes a page for the A & D Munro Shay
providing a brief history and additional photos of this interesting
locomotive. Fact
sheets for the Munro Shays (Lima B/Nos. 906
& 2097) can be found at the excellent Shaylocomotives.com
website. For an indication of how Munro Shay No.2 would look if restoration is completed, refer to sister loco Munro Shay No.1. |
The frame of Shay No.2 (Lima 2097) at the ILRMS workshop on
13 October 2002.
A Davenport locomotive boiler is trial fitted, together
with an original Shay smokebox.
A restored 2' gauge Shay truck in the ILRMS loco shed at
Albion Park. 13 October 2002.
Spotted during my visit to the Illawarra Light Railway
& Museum on 3 May 2015 was this intriguing pallet-load of Shay parts.
Among the components is the main crank shaft, complete with
eccentrics and part of the union joints.
My visit to the Illawarra Light Railway & Museum on 3
May 2015 also found one of the two Shay boilers placed on static display.
Damage to the outer firebox sheet is clearly visible where explosive
was used by scrappers to blast off the cylinders.
An earlier view of the same boiler as seen above, as found
in a storage area at Albion Park on 13 October 2002.
References
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a |
www.shaylocomotives.com
website, viewed 13 April 2019. |
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b |
K. McCarthy, ‘Guide
to the Main Exhibits - Illawarra Light Railway Museum Society’, published
1992 |
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c |
Information
provided via email by Chris Tait on 18 March 2019. |
Page updated: 10 August 2026
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