WAGR E Class Steam Locomotive

## E Class (1879)

E Class Double Fairlie No. E7 in its rebuilt condition, with extended smokeboxes and straight chimneys, side view.

## Other Figures

### Operator(s):

Western Australian Government Railways, M.C.Davies and Canning Jarrah Timber Coy

### Number Preserved:

0

No. E20 after being converted to F Class No. 20, side view, from a print in the WA Railways Institute Magazine.

The E Class locomotives of 1879 were built by Avonside Engine Co. Bristol for the WAGR's Northampton railway line, the first government railway in Western Australia, which opened that year.

## History:

In accordance with Avonside's policy of applying serial (builders) numbers to their Fairlie locomotives, each engine unit of the locomotive was assigned a separate serial (builders) numbers. They were essentially a modified version of the New Zealand Railway Department's B Class locomotives.

These locomotives were initially intended to assist the ever increasing traffic of minerals on the line. However, soon after their purchase, the price of lead plummeted and the volume of traffic fell sharply. As a result, the locomotives were deemed surplus and put into storage. Nevertheless, one of the locomotives eventually returned to service in 1881, while the other remained in storage until 1885.

By 1885, locomotive class designations had been introduced, thus resulting in the two Fairlie locomotives being classified as E class, with E20 and E7 as their respective numbers. Both locomotives were subsequently transferred to Fremantle Railway Workshops for use on the Eastern Railway in 1888.

E20 was dismantled in 1891 and its engine unit repurposed to produce two steam powered machines. One half was converted to a stationary engine to drive machinery at Fremantle Railway Workshop, while the other half was converted to a 2-4-2T tank locomotive and reclassified as F20. This conversion was completed in February 1893 and the locomotive was used at Long Jetty at Fremantle, before being sold to Jarrah Timber & Wood Paving Co, Worsley, in February 1899. The locomotive was eventually out of service by March 1905.

E7 on the other hand, was withdrawn in 1895 and sold to the Canning Jarrah Timber Company. It was used on the Upper Darling Range Railway, being coupled up with a surplus tender. E7 was scrapped in 1897, just two years after its purchase. Some parts of both the locomotive and tender were re-used to build a new tender for the CJTC's other steam locomotive, *Coates*, while other parts were used to build log hauler of an unknown road number. The main reasons for the E7's early retirement were its loud noise and inflexibility when running. Although its overall performance was comparable to the larger 0-6-0 tank locomotives and the smaller 0-8-0 tank locomotives, it had limited water and fuel capacity, thus the reason for it being coupled up with the tender.

## Known Numbers:

E 7

E 20 (F 20)

## Gallery:

CJTC locomotive "Coates" with tender created with parts occured from F20.No. E7 in its as-built condition, side view, with men from Geraldton Workshops.NZR B class. Identical in design to the two Fairlies of the WAGR, except for the lack of leading wheels.
## Technical Information:

 Loco weight
 Fuel type
 Fuel capacity
 Water cap
 Firebox:
 • Firegrate area
 Boiler pressure
 Cylinder size