Victorian Railways Y class
The Victorian Railways Y class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives, built from 1885 to 1889. the class was an example of the new policy of standard design principles being adopted by the railways of the time. the original locomotive built by Kitson and co in Leeds in England in 1885, also Jeffery’s 0-6-0 goods engine design was named Victoria and was exhibited along the class E426 named Tasmania, at the Melbourne centennial exhibition in 1888. 30 more would be built by the phoenix foundry in Ballarat from 1888 to 1889. they were given numbers from 383 to 441 but only the odd numbers and the Victoria was given 445.
the class were big locomotives for their time, reportly the largest and most powerful 0-6-0s to run in Australia. the class excelled in their performance and acceptance by the crews. they often pulled suburban passenger trains before the electrification in the 1910s, the class spent the rest of their service as yard shunters. the withdrawal of the class started in 1926, 11 would be withdrawn before 1940 and the last 20 that where in service were renumbered that same year. the last in service with number 108 which was withdrawn in 1963, having been a pilot engine at north Melbourne for many years.
Only 3 members of the class made it into preservation, with one still in use:
Y108 is on static display at the newport railway museum.
Y109/Y413 was sold to an unknown industrial user at Nowingi, where it was converted to a diesel-mechanical locomotive in 1956. it became known as 'the thing'. Y109 was acquired by Steamrail Victoria in the 1980 and was used in the restoration of Y112. in 2008, Y109 was reassembled and placed on display at Millewa pioneer park in Meringur.
Y112 was withdrawn in 1961 and was preserved on a plinth outside the Ballarat railway station. Y112 was then purchased by the Ballarat historical society and it is hard to tell if Y112 is owned by sovereign hill, in Ballarat an open-air museum depicting the gold rush in the 1850's or Streamrail Victoria. the locomotive had restoration works started in 1985 to 1996, by Streamrail Victoria for 7 years and the last 6 years by west coast railway. West Coast Railway continued to operate the locomotive until 2005 when Y112 was put into Streamrail Victoria care. Y112 is still in service but has spent most of this year undergoing a major mechanical overhaul which includes a brand new set of wheels.
A video of the Y112: Australian Steam Trains: Veteran Y112 and D3 639 double head on the mainline. (youtube.com)
all photos are from Y112 | Steamrail Victoria
