Queensland C16 class locomotive

The C16 class steam locomotive is a 4-8-0 locomotive of the Queensland Railways QR. The locomotives operated on 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. The “C”, is used to identify the number of coupled wheels, being eight coupled wheels for the C16 class, followed by numerals indicating the cylinder diameter of sixteen inches (406 mm). This resulted in the C16 class locomotive.

Construction

The prototype, N°395, was the first engine to be built by the then new North Ipswich Railway Workshops.^[2] It was the only Queensland Rail engine with the exception of the Garratt classes to be fitted with a screw reverser. After successful trials, an order for a further 20 was placed in 1906 and construction began in earnest. The first engines had an unusual combined number and builder’s plate mounted on the sides of the cab. In early years, the class was often referred to as “Ipswich C16″ to distinguish them from the Baldwin built C16 engines of the previous century. Of the 152 locomotives constructed, only one remains - 106, at the DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum.

Three engines were specially turned out for a time to haul the heavy Sydney Mail train until larger locomotives took over this duty. Engines constructed from around 1910 were given indiscriminate numbers by being allocated numbers of scrapped locomotives. The number plate itself was not "recycled" however, and the works constructing the engines provided new cast plates in their own distinctive style. This commenced a trend that was used on many engines of other classes constructed during the 1920s and early 1930s.

Superheating trial

In 1920s, superheating was trialled on ten engines. Operation of these superheated engines proved costly despite tests proving savings in coal and water consumption. The principal problem was lubrication of slide valves with the higher temperatures. This caused wear and cutting of the valve and port faces with resultant steam leaks. The original cast iron valves were replaced with bronze ones but produced little improvement. In 1929, it was decided to not to superheat any more slide valve engines and those so fitted reverted to saturated steam as boiler renewals became necessary. Eleven engines were loaned to Commonwealth Railways in 1942. All were later returned when the traffic situation worsened in Queensland.

As saturated engines they were soon replaced on more important duties by their successor, the C17 Class. The engines that survived until the last decade of steam were mainly used for heavy shunting in yards such as Rockhampton where the loads were beyond the capacity of the PB15 class

Modifications

The class received a number of modifications during their lives. The early engines had sandboxes on the running boards rather than mounted on the boiler. All, except the class leader, had these replaced by a “standard” Baldwin style sandbox on their boilers. A. A. R. Master Mechanics smokeboxes commenced being fitted to members of the class in 1945. This greatly improved their performance. All engines remaining in service, except N°106, were similarly altered. These modified engines could be distinguished by their tapered stove pipe chimney.

Preservation

C16 No. 106 is currently undergoing restoration by the DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum^[3] in the Darling Downs region of Queensland.

References