Emu Bay Railway 10 Class
The Government railways and the west coast narrow gauge lines weren’t the only interesting railways in Tasmania. The Emu Bay Railway was an amazing private line that was built from Burnie across to the west coast to haul ore out of that bleak and inhospitable region.
And that’s what it did for many years using an interesting variety of steam locomotives including Australian Standard Garratts that came after the war and several ’stock’ Beyer Garratts that come from England in 1930 and were still in service 30 years later.
But once the economies that came with dieselization were apparent the writing was on the wall for steam on the Emu Bay Railway and in 1963 the first of four diesel hydraulic locos arrived from Walkers in Queensland. Walkers built the first three locos and 1004 was built by the Tasmanian Government Railway workshops three years later.
These became the 10 class and served the Emu Bay Railway for many years. Here is an official photograph of 1004 taken around the time it entered service.
Photo used with the permission of the National Archives
These locos were rated at 700hp/520kW and served the Emu Bay Railway for many years before being placed in storage in mid-2000. In later years these locos were fitted with auto couplers and multiple unit connections and could often be seen spliced between the Emu Bay Railway’s 11 class diesel hydraulics.
1004 was subsequently sold to the Zig Zag Railway in New South Wales and the other three in the class have also been preserved.
In 1998 the Emu Bay Railway was sold to ATN-Tasrail which was subsequently bought by Pacific National and today the line from Burnie down to the west coast is still in use. It rarely makes the news but it did last week when a derailment saw 10 loaded ore wagons derail and end up in and near a river.
If you’re interested in reading more about the Emu Bay Railway then look for Lou Rae’s book - The Emu Bay Railway - it’s a fascinating read and full of some wonderful photos.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Why was it hi nose when it’s lo nose now? When i saw it near Melba flats on sunday it was lo nose. PS. y not make some TGR y class locos.
May 5th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Hello Jacob,
The loco that you saw was one of the 11 Class, which was developed from the 10s. Several of the 11s have been preserved on the Mainland and there is a Class 10 at Walhalla in Victoria.