MRWA P class
Class of Australian 4-4-0 locomotives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The MRWA P class was a class of steam locomotives operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) and later the Midland Railway of Western Australia (MRWA) from 1896.
| Midland Railway of Western Australia P class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P class near Midland Junction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History
In July and August 1896, the WAGR took delivery of two steam locomotives from James Martin & Co, Gawler, South Australia. They were basically a 4-4-0 version of the WAGR's 4-6-0 G class, and identical to the South Australian Railways Z class, save for a bogie tender in place of the SAR six wheel tender.[1] They entered service on the Eastern Goldfields Railway with P63 hauling the inaugural service from Coolgardie to Kalgoorlie in September 1896.[2]
Both were sold in 1912 to the MRWA, however they were underpowered and after the delivery of its five new C class locomotives, were relegated to shunting duties at Midland Junction. In 1913, P62 commenced a 12-month lease to the Public Works Department. When it returned it was withdrawn and became a parts source for P63 which had been renumbered P12. Both were scrapped in 1929.[1][2][3]
