| Weight | 88tons 12cwt |
| Driving Wheels | 4ft 6ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 275psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 18in x 24in |
| Tractive Effort | 21,240lbf |
In 1886, Dübs and Company of Glasgow delivered the first six R class of engine. A further 24 engines had been built by James Martin & Co in Australia by November 1895. From 1899, all engines were rebuilt with higher powered Belpaire boilers and reclassified as the Rx class engine.
A further 54 locomotives were built in Australia as Rx class by the Islington Railway Workshops (14), North British Locomotive Company (15) and Walkers Limited (25) with all engines in service by May 1916. These were more powerful locomotives.
The adoption of a 4-6-0 design stemmed from the need for more powerful locomotives to tackle the grades of the Mount Lofty Range and would have been a significant innovation in 1886. It is worth noting that this is eight years before the Highland Railway introduced the Jones Goods class in Britain.
The R class engines were the predominant locomotive used on broad gauge main line services in South Australia from their introduction.
By 1916 when there were 84 Rx class locomotives in services and they were employed on both passenger and freight train duties. By the mid 1920s when more powerful locomotives were introduced the Rx engines were relegated to branch line, suburban and shunting duties. Although some of the earlier locomotives were withdrawn from service in 1934 the majority continued to perform these duties until the end of regular steam operation on the South Australian Railways in the mid 1960s.
The Rx class locomotives were limited to a maximum speed of 45mph.
This locomotive was built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow in 1913 and entered service with the South Australian Railways in December of that year.
Following the end of regular steam the locomotive was retained to haul railtours.
At some time it came under the care of the SteamRanger organisation and acquired the name Dean Harvey in honour of the Director at SteamRanger.
The locomotive was overhauled by SteamRanger at their Mt Barker depot and returned to operation in 2001. After this it was regularly used to haul SteamRanger trains between Goolwa and Victor Harbour.
In 2007 the locomotive was withdrawn from service to have major mechanical restoration work undertaken which included purchasing worn out tyres from outside of Australia. It returned to traffic in March 2011 but was withdrawn again in early 2013 when further significant maintenance work was required.
The locomotive returned to service in November 2015 when it again hauled trains between Goolwa and Victor Harbour.
There are nine other Rx class locomotives preserved.
Built by Dübs and Company in Glasgow
- Rx 93 – Works number 2142
Built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow.
- Rx 201 – Works number 20152
Built by the South Australian Railways at Islington Workshops
- Rx 5 – Works number 13
- Rx 55 – Works number 25
- Rx 160 – Works number 29
- Rx 191 – Works number 41
Built by Walkers in Australia
- Rx 217 – Works number 245
- Rx 224 – Works number 252
- Rx 231 – Works number 259
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Preserved British Steam Locomotives 