This locomotive was built by Dübs and Company in Glasgow in 1896 as the first of the Abt-rack locomotives of the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Co. In all five locomotives were purchased by the railway. Four were supplied by Dübs between 1896 and 1901 and one by the North British Locomotive Company in 1938.
The railway built by the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Company was one such venture to provide a rack railway connecting Queenstown to the docks at Strahan.
The route crossed difficult mountain country using the Abt-rack system and the line was nearly complete when the locomotive was delivered as a kit of parts which were assembled in the bush.
The locomotive on the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Co spent their working lives hauling copper concentrates, mine supplies and general traffic. They were supported by conventional locomotives on the non-rack sections of the route. The five Abt locos were originally coal burners but were converted to oil firing late in their working lives.
The Mt Lyell Railway was closed in 1963 and subsequently dismantled.
This locomotive was donated to the West Coast Pioneers Museum at Zeehan where it was displayed for many years
The old My Lyell railway fell into disrepair, with many of the timber trestle bridges rotting in the wet west coast climate, and the major bridge across the Queen River swept away in floods.
Following the allocation of Federal Government funding, the Mt Lyell railway from Strahan to Queenstown was totally rebuilt as a major tourist initiative for the Tasmanian West Coast. The bridges we rebuilt, rails relaid and new Abt-rack sections fabricated and installed. The railway was officially reopened over the entire route as the West Coast Wilderness Railway in April 2003.
Around 1998 this locomotive, along with a number of other of the original engines, was acquired for refurbishment and operation on the rebuilt railway. The locomotive was restored under contract by Saunders & Ward of Hobart and including a new welded boiler which has been adapted to burn diesel fuel.
Three other Abt-rack locomotives which worked on the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Co have been preserved.
- Dübs and Company Works number 3594 – Abt No 2
- Dübs and Company Works number 3730 – Abt No 3
- North British Locomotive Company Work number 24418 – Abt No5
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