| Driving Wheels | 3ft 5ins |
| Weight | 28 tons 10 cwt |
| Boiler Pressure | 140psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 14in x 22in |
| Tractive Effort | 11,780 lbf |
This locomotive was built by R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Company in Newcastle upon Tyne 1913
It was purchased new by C & G Hoskins for their Ironworks at Lithgow. George and Cecil Hoskins had taken over the steel works at Rhodes in Sydney in 1908 and they persuaded the Australian Government to pay a bounty for Australian produced steel. The business was moved from Rhodes to Lithgow but the smelters were closed in 1927.
In 1928 the Australian Iron & Steel (AI&S) was established to take over the business of Hoskins Iron & Steel and utilised new blast furnaces at Port Kemble to replace those at Lithgow..
The locomotive thus came under the ownership of AI&S and operated at Port Kemble.where it operated around the steelworks and the exchange sidings with the New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR).
In 1935 AI&S became a wholly owned subsidiary of Broken Hill Proprietary Co Limited. The steelworks at Port Kemble continued to operate under the name of AI&S.
It was withdrawn from service with AI&S in 1963 and placed on a plinth at the Visitor Centre of the company at Coniston.
The steam locomotives exhibited at the visitor’s centre were later disposed of and this locomotive was donated to the nearby Illawarra Light Railway Museum & Society in 1979
It was then placed as gatekeeper at the Albion Park museum entrance. A weather roof was later added, which has provided good protection from the elements.
Wallaby appears to be well cared for by volunteers at the Illawarra Light Railway Museum & Society and I have always found her to be well presented. In more recent years Wallaby’s lined maroon livery (which I believe was authentic to the original) has been replaced by blue livery, presumably based on “Thomas the Tank Engine”.
An information board displayed alongside Wallaby (as reproduced in a photo below) provides further information and technical details for this interesting industrial locomotive.
A very large and diverse range of steam locomotives once served the various industrial operations situated in the Illawarra
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