Model Trains and Things

In part one and part two of this series we saw 5262 waiting in the exchange sidings at Hexham as 5476 clanked past with a down coal train consisting of privately owned non-air hoppers.

Once 5476 was out of the section the signalman could let 5262 out onto Up coal line to take it’s train down to Port Waratah and as soon as the lower quadrant signal dropped 5262 was on the move.

At the start of 1972 steam was still hauling trains between Gosford and Newcastle and Newcastle and the last colliery south of Muswellbrook. There were also steam locos shunting at 12 other centres around the State. By the end of February 1973  the last steam loco had been withdrawn from revenue service. So at the time these photos were taken in 1972 steam did not have long to go.

Although similar in appearance 5262 and 5476 were from two distinct classes. 5262 was one of 280 strong 50 Class and this particular loco was built by North British (in the UK) and entered service in 1915. 5262 was fitted with a superheater and a turret tender.

5476 was one of the last of the 190 strong 53 class. I’m not sure of which company built this loco but it’s likely that it was constructed by Clyde Engineering at the Granville factory. At this late stage in its life 5476 is also fitted with a turret tender.

Neither loco has been preserved.

Be sure to come back for the last in the series because there was another interesting steam locomotive I photographed from the footbridge at Hexham that day and if you look to the right of the first telegraph pole you can see it coming in the distance.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under New South Wales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.