SAR #621 is a light pacific built in September of 1935 by the Islington workshops for a class of 10, designed by Fred Shea. This class was also the only in Australia to have Baker valve gear, due to it's high royalty cost. In 1943 after the introduction of the 520 class 4-8-4's, the class was relegated to passenger services to Bridgewater, Tailem Bend and on the Willunga line. The class also still saw use on the lightly laid Mallee branch lines due to their light axle loading. The class was phased out for the Bluebird railcars, although a series of failures in 1954 and 1955 resulted in a comeback of 620's on the Port Pirie line. They were all withdrawn by 1969. 621 is one of two preserved examples of the class, being restored between 1970 and 1971 and returning to service, being named by the governor of South Australia. The engine has spent the last 50 years in service with Steamranger, going out of service twice for the replacement of a header and boiler tubes respectively. When the locomotive was first built, she appeared in a unique lined green to match the Centenary train consist, along with class leader 620. Afterwards, she was painted in unlined black to match the majority of the SAR fleet. Once in preservation, from 1971-1994 and 2011-2019, she ran with smoke deflectors in lined green, but between 2001-2008, she ran without smoke deflectors as she was originally built. The locomotive returned to black in 2020, after being in green for 49 years in preservation, however with red lining. The locomotive currently hauls the Southern Encounter from Mt Barker to Victor Harbour and return as in 1996, SteamRanger was forced to move their collection onto the now isolated section of the Mt. Barker to Victor Harbour line, due to re-gauging of the Adelaide to Mt. Barker Junction line to standard gauge.
Built by VT29steamtrain, 2021
Contributors:
Jordo - sizing and basic shape
Pcas1986 - UV mapping
Тип: traincar