New South Wales Z20 class locomotive


The Z20 class is a class of steam locomotive built for and operated by the New South Wales Government Railways of Australia.

History

There was a total of 33 members of this class of 2-6-4T mixed traffic side tank locomotives. There were three differing types.
Twelve were classified E class under the pre-1924 recording. These locomotives were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company and delivered in 1891 for use on Newcastle coal traffic. They proved very successful in suburban goods and coal traffic, picnic trains to Toronto, but were unsuited to main line passenger traffic. When displaced by more powerful locomotives, many were used as shunters. Their final services were on short light branch lines, such as Richmond-Kurrajong, Carlingford, Camden, Rogans Hill and Morpeth. A number were also to be found shunting the industrial sidings at Port Kembla.
In 1902 there was a shortage of tank locomotives. Six members of the A class 0-6-0 tender engines were converted to a new A/E class tank locomotives by Eveleigh Railway Workshops. A further eight conversions were made in 1909/10. In 1911 seven new locomotives were constructed at Eveleigh. In 1924, these 21 locomotives were grouped with the twelve E class to form the 20-class.

Later Years

As more tender locomotives became available for suburban goods traffic, the surplus locomotives of the combined class were scrapped or sold. Some of the locomotives which were sold to industrial interests include:
The last member of the class in service with the New South Wales Government Railways was 2029 which had been retained for working the Liverpool to Moorebank branch. This has been preserved by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, Thirlmere and cosmetically restored.

Preservation