This locomotive was built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in Sheffield in 1895 an entered service with the Queensland Railways as a class B15 locomotive. The B denoted the three driving axles and the 15 the diameter of the cylinders. It entered service in March 1897.
The first fifteen locomotives of the class were built by Nasmyth, Wilson & Co at Patricroft near Manchester in 1889. There followed ones constructed by Evans, Anderson, Phelan & Co at Kangeroo Point in Queensland (21), the Yorkshire Engine Company (10) and Walkers Limited at Maryborough in Queensland (52). A further six locomotives were acquired by the Queensland Railways in 1919 when the Chillagoe Railway & Mining Company was taken over by the railway. These six had been built by Evans, Anderson, Phelan & Co.
The original 15 Nasmyth Wilson & Co engines were supplied with 120psi iron boilers while subsequent engines were supplied with 140psi steel boilers. Most of the class B15 locomotives also received replacement 160psi boilers during overhauls and rebuilding over the years.
The locomotives had 3ft 0in driving wheels appear to have damaged the track and after problems with broken rails one locomotives (336) was fitted with 3ft 9in driving wheels. As this was considered a success most of the other locomotes were fitted with larger wheels over the next 30 years. Only five locomotives were not fitted with the larger driving wheels and these were withdrawn from service in November 1934. This locomotive was converted in June 1923.
Most of the class B15 locomotives spent their working lives operating out of Cairns.
The first withdrawal of the larger wheeled locomotives took place in 1935 when 26 were taken out of service. By the 1960s only 18 remained in service.
These were retained for their usefulness on lines with weight restrictions and for shunting duties. The B15 class engines were principal motive power in the tropical far north of Queensland, particularly the Cairns – Main Range – Atherton Tablelands lines, owing to the light rails in the area. This was an area which had a lot of rail movements during the Second World War when many military facilities were established around Cairns and the Atherton Tableland as a staging point for Pacific operations.
This locomotive was the last member of the class in service when it was withdrawn in May 1968 whilst employed on shunting duties at Rockhampton.
Following withdrawal from service the locomotive was transferred to the south of Queensland and prepared for static display at the Redbank Railway Museum. It was displayed at Redbank from 1970 until the museum closured in 1992.
Whilst the Redbank exhibits were then stored prior to relocation to the new The Workshops museum at Ipswich Railway Workshops this locomotive has been placed in storage at the Ipswich Workshops.
It is understood that the boiler lagging requires removal before it can go on display but no home for the locomotive has been identified.
The only other member of the class preserved is 299 which was built by Walkers Limited at Maryborough in Queensland as the first locomotive they built.
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