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Y 71 South-West Rail & Heritage Centre, Boyanup |
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Y 71 displayed at the ARHS Railway Museum, Bassendean on 9
May 2002.
The tender is prominent in this rear view, showing SAR
lettering, a rear cowcatcher, and hungry boards to support stacks of timber
fuel.
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Builder |
Manchester |
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Builder’s Number & Year |
2762
of 1886 |
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Wheel Arrangement |
2-6-0 |
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This locomotive
is a product of the famous Manchester builders, Beyer Peacock & Co and
received the South Australian Railways (SAR) road number Y 71. It was one of
129 members of the successful SAR Y-class, which were introduced in 1885 and
displaced the smaller W-class 2-6-0 locomotives as principal motive power on
the South Australian Railways narrow gauge routes. Locomotives of the same Beyer
Peacock design were also employed by the Western Australian Government
Railways (WAGR) as their G-class. Y 71 was
withdrawn by South Australian Railways in 1927. The SAR Y-class / WAGR
G-class 2-6-0 design was popular with Western Australian timber concerns for
use on their timber tramways, with many units obtained second hand from
various Government railway systems. Among these was Y 71 which was sold to
the West Australian Jarrah Forest Co. in 1927 for work at East Witchcliffe.
It was withdrawn from timber industry service in approximately 1957.
Photographs show that the locomotive remained stored at the mill after its
withdrawal, eventually being taken into care by the Australian Railway
Historical Society (WA Division). Y 71 is now displayed among the locomotive
exhibits at the ARHS Railway Museum, Bassendean. When Y 71 was retrieved from
the mill at East Witchcliffe, it was determined that its original SAR tender
was beyond salvage. A replacement Beyer-Peacock 6-wheel tender last used with WAGR G 67 was substituted, and then back-converted with
Y 71's old tender features. An example is the tender cowcatcher; this appears to have
been a common modification for WA timber industry locomotives, presumably due
to extensive tender-first running along the timber lines of WA's south-west. Update: Y
71 has now been transferred to the South-West Rail & Heritage Centre,
Boyanup, where it arrived via road haulage on 12 April 2023. Their social
media pages show various views of arrival: South-West
Rail and Heritage Centre |
Y 71 at Bassendean and paired with
WAGR tender ex G 67.
This tender was subsequently modified to resemble Y 71’s old
SAR tender.
The photo date is unknown but seems to be shortly after
arrival at Bassendean.
Image used with permission of the Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=9372
(Image reference T00763, original photographer – unknown.)
Y 71 as found at the Mill. The
deplorable state of the tender can be seen by the gaping rust holes.
Two volunteers in boiler suits are wire brushing the loco
preparatory to painting. Date unknown.
Image used with permission of
the Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=10202
(Image reference T01593, original
photographer – E. Woodland.)
Y 71 at the Adelaide Timber Co.
mill, East Witchcliffe, with the rusted-out tender evident and leaning on a
jaunty angle.
Initial cleaning & painting of the loco has proceeded
half-way along the boiler.
The Rail Heritage WA archive identifies the people standing
in front of the loco as (left to right):
E. Woodland, C. D. Shepherdson. Mill manager L. Williams, I.
Carne and M. Zeplin. 29 April 1967.
Image used with permission of the Rail Heritage WA archive:
http://railheritagewa.org.au/archive_scans/displayimage.php?pid=16579
(Image reference P02784, original photographer – Unknown E. Woodland collection.)
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 |
Wikipedia
entry for SAR Y-class locomotives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australian_Railways_Y_class retrieved 3
September 2025 |
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c |
Information provided by Brent Luscombe via
email, 18 August 2009. |
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d |
South-West Rail and Heritage Centre –
Facebook social media pages, retrieved
4 May 2026: https://www.facebook.com/SouthWestRailandHeritageCentre |
Page updated: 13 May 2026
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