| Introduced | 1911 – 1925 |
| Weight | 61t 15cwt |
| Driving Wheels | 4ft 3ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 180psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 20in x 26in |
| Tractive Effort | 31,210lbf |
Fourteen class 10 locomotives were built by Beyer Peacock in the period 1911 to 1925. They were supplied to the East Greta Coal Company which later became the South Maitland Railway. Members of the class were the last class of steam locomotives in commercial use in Australia.
The East Greta Coal Company had constructed its railway empire based on a motley group of second hand and borrowed steam locomotives, which by 1910, was fast becoming insufficient to move the great loads coming from the Greta Seam which ran right through the South Maitland coalfield. Standardised motive power was sought, and a melding of the New South Wales Government Railways’ 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 designs brought about the 10 class.
The locomotives were generally known as the class 10 as this was the numbered carried by the first member of the class.
The fourteen locomotives were numbered where they could be accommodated within the East Greta Coal Company numbering system. This proved haphazard, the numbers allocated being 10, 17-20, 22-28 and 30-31.
The locomotives were delivered in kit form, and erected onsite at the East Greta Junction Workshops. This locomotive was built by Beyer Peacock in 1923 and entered service with the East Greta Coal Company and subsequently the South Maitland Railway as number 25.
The class 10 locomotives were primarily used to haul coal trains until a downturn in the 1950s when a sharp reduction in demand for coal resulted in a number of members of the class being set aside as boiler work was required. The situation improved in the late 1960s when there was an upturn in the market. In 1967 Coal & Allied (C&A) purchased Hebburn Limited which gave C&A 100% ownership of the South Maitland Railways. As C&A also owned the former J&A Brown Richmond Vale Railway a study was undertaken on the costs involved in having new boilers built by outside suppliers for both the 10 class and the J&A Brown ROD locomotives. It was determined to be of greater benefit to allow the remaining RODs to work out their economic lives, and to start a system of repairing the 10 class locomotives as soon as possible for the revived traffic.
In March 1973 one member of the class 10 locomotives was sent to Hexham to assist in the movement of coal from the mine at Stockrington on the former J&A Brown railway. This was the start of a 14-year association of the 10 class with this system, with each class member spending at least a few weeks in service there. All maintenance at this time was undertaken at East Greta Junction, with the locomotives being transferred dead on empty and loaded coal trains.
Steam on the South Maitland Railway system ended in June 1983.
From then until September 1987, East Greta Junction Workshops became solely devoted to providing four 10 class at all times to Hexham, with the others in storage, except number 19 which was preserved and on display at Port Waratah Coal Loader.
The C&A employees, however protested at the cancellation of the steam program. The men were dismissed, and in combination with their pleas being unheard, they lit up SMR number 25, and ran it light engine over the swamp and to a location near Lenaghan’s Drive, where a public protest was staged. Local farmers assisted with water supplies, and a sympathetic truck driver ‘dropped’ some coal nearby. This protest lasted for three weeks until the men were reinstated and their entitlements reissued. In October 1987, number 25 became the last steam locomotive to cross Hexham Swamp, ending 130 years of continuous steam operation in this locality.
Moves to preserve these locomotives began in the late 1970s, with the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum and the Richmond Vale Railway Museum making approaches to Coal & Allied to preserve at least one of the locomotives upon withdrawal, however these requests were refused.
Following the cessation of steam services on the South Maitland Railway in 1983, those not required for Hexham workings were stored in the former engine shed at East Greta Junction. Moves were made to preserve the locomotives as a whole, unique in New South Wales.
In 1989 this locomotive (number 25) along with three other class 10 locomotives which were stored at Hexham, were placed in the care of the Richmond Vale Railway Museum by C & A. They were transferred there in July 1989.
Number 25 was the second of these to steam again after some repairs to the firebox. It then became one of the two locomotives (numbers 24 and 25) which were the mainstay of the museum’s operations for many years. Both locomotives were withdrawn awaiting boiler lifts to allow for a full external boiler inspection in the late 1990s.
Subsequently the locomotive (number 25) was placed in store underneath the former screens of Richmond Main mine.
All fourteen of the class 10 locomotives have been preserved. The other thirteen are listed below.
- 10 – Beyer Peacock works number 5520
- 17 – Beyer Peacock works number 5790
- 18 – Beyer Peacock works number 5909
- 19 – Beyer Peacock works number 5910
- 20 – Beyer Peacock works number 5998
- 22 – Beyer Peacock works number 6055
- 23 – Beyer Peacock works number 6056
- 24 -Beyer Peacock works number 6125
- 26 – Beyer Peacock works number 6127
- 27 – Beyer Peacock works number 6137
- 28 – Beyer Peacock works number 6138
- 30 – Beyer Peacock works number 6294
- 31 – Beyer Peacock works number 6295
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