The 620 class light pacific was built by the Islington workshops for a class of 10 during the late 30's, designed by the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Fred Shea. This class was also the only one in Australia to have Baker valve gear, due to it's high royalty cost. It was designed to haul almost any sort of train on most of the network, including the lighter laid lines. 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. Unfortunately, they were all withdrawn by 1969. 621 has been preserved in operational condition at SteamRanger while 624 has been preserved statically at the NRM. 624 entered the NRM in 1967, when it was the Mile End Railway Museum. The locomotive has remained static ever since, but this Trainz version is depicted as 'what if' it would look like if it was restored to operation.
Built by VT29steamtrain, 2021
Contributors:
Jordo - sizing and basic shape
Pcas1986 - UV mapping