NSWGR steam locomotive classification

In the first 36 years of its existence, the NSW Railways introduced 42 separate classes of locomotives. The appointment by the Premier of New South Wales, Henry Parkes of Mr E.M.G Eddy as Chief Commissioner in 1888 created an independent railway department and saw the following 36 years with only sixteen new classes produced.^[1]

Locomotive No. 1
Drawing General Arrangement

Classification

Steam Locomotive classification on the New South Wales Government Railways had three distinct classification systems.

From 1855 to 1890 (numerical)

The classification was taken from the road number given to the first engine in each class.

The engines attached to the then isolated Northern section had the terminal letter "N" added to the road number.

From October 1890 to August 1924 (letter and number)

A letter was selected arbitrarily and placed before the first number allotted to each class. e.g. the 93-class became the A.93-class. Letters were initially allocated, in alphabetic order, by class size. The 93 Class had the most locomotives in traffic (77) so they were given the letter 'A', the 205 Class were the next most numerous (70 in traffic), so were classified 'B', the 79 Class the third most numerous (68 in service) so were granted the letter 'C' and so on. With the opening of the Hawkesbury Bridge in May 1889, the Northern section engines were renumbered and grouped with the others of the Sydney system, using the numbers 388–435. the final "N" being dropped .

In general practice, the class letter only was quoted, without the number, except when there were one or two variants using a common class-letter.

From August 1924 (letter and number)

All engines were given new four-figure numbers, the first two digits indicating the class and the second two, the engine number, arranged in chronological order of commencement of service. When the number of engines in a class exceeded 99, the class number (first two digits) was increased by 1, e.g., the 137th engine of the 32-class was 3337. Engines numbered from 1000 up were the first to be renumbered using the new system to prevent two locomotives sharing the same number being in service at the same time.

For administration purposes, a letter was added to denote certain characteristics of locomotives. These letters weren't generally found on the running numbers of locomotives. The initial letters indicate :

• "C"-three driving axles;
• "D"-four driving axles;
• "AD"-two articulated sets of four driving axles (Only for the AD60s);
• "Z"-old classes which would never be repeated, and
• "X" -associated with the 10-class, which included all types of duplicates; yard and depot locomotives, crane locomotives, locomotive and accident cranes and special equipment.

Initial letters are dropped in general usage with a "C.36-class" engine universally known as a "36-class".

Classes

Classification

Image	Whyte notation	pre 1890	1890-1924	post 1924	Type	Year
	0-4-2	1			Mixed Traffic	1855
	0-4-2	5			Mixed Traffic	1856
	2-2-2	6			Passenger	1856
	0-4-2	1N			Mixed Traffic	1857
	2-2-2T	8			Passenger Tank	1859
	2-2-2	9			Passenger, Coal	1858
	2-4-0	13			Mixed Traffic	1863
	0-6-0	17	E.17		Goods	1863
	2-4-0	23	G.23		Passenger	1863
	2-4-0T	6N			Mineral Tank Type	1863
	2-2-2	8N			Passenger	1864
	0-6-0T	29–31,9N	S.29		Box Saddle Tank	1864
	2-2-2	14	T.14		Express Passenger	1865
	0-4-2	36	M.36	X.10	Mixed Traffic	1870
	2-4-0	10[2]			Passenger	1870
	0-6-0T	20N			Goods Saddle Tank	1872
	0-6-0T	(1st) 48			Goods Tank	1872
	0-6-0	23N			Goods	1874
	0-6-0	(2nd)48	I.48		Goods	1874
	0-6-0	60	O.60		Passenger	1874
	0-6-0T	66	P.127		Small Saddle Tank	1874
	0-6-0T	67	N.67		Suburban Passenger Tank	1875
	4-4-0	79	C.79	Z.12	Passenger	1877
	0-6-0	93	A.93	Z.19	Goods	1877
	4-4-0	105	U.105 (later S.105)		Passenger	1877
	2-8-0	131	J.131	Z.28	Goods	1879
	4-4-0T	158	Q.158		Suburban Passenger Tank	1880
	2-6-0	205	B.205	Z.25	Goods	1882
	4-4-0	255	D.255	Z.15	Express Passenger	1882
	4-4-0	261	D.261	Z.16	Express Passenger	1883
	0-6-0T	285	R.285	Z.18	Suburban Passenger Tank	1884
	2-6-0	294	K.294		Goods	1885
	2-6-0	304	L.304	Z.21	Passenger	1885
	4-4-0	334	D.334	Z.16	Express Passenger	1885
	2-4-0T	351	F.351	X.10	Suburban Passenger Tank	1885
	4-4-0	373	H.373	Z.17	Passenger	1887
	2-6-0		L.436	Z.22	Passenger	1890
	4-4-2T		M.40	Z.11	Suburban Passenger Tank	1891
	2-6-0		B.55	Z.24	Goods	1891
	2-6-2T		I.17	Z.26	Mineral Tank	1891
	2-6-4T		E.10	Z.20	Mineral Tank	1891
	4-6-0		O.446	Z.23	Passenger	1891
	2-8-0		J.483	Z.29	Goods	1891
	4-6-0		P.6	C.32	Passenger	1892
	2-8-0		J.522	Z.28	Goods	1893
	2-8-0		T.524	D.50	Goods	1896
	4-4-2T		CC.79	Z.13	Suburban Passenger Tank	1896
	2-6-4T		A/E	Z.20	Mineral Tank E.10 rebuild	1902
	4-4-0		CG	Z.14	(C)onverted (G)-Class	1903
	4-6-4T		S.636	C.30	Suburban Passenger Tank	1903
	4-6-0		N.928	C.34	Express Passenger	1909
	4-4-0		Q.158		Light Mixed Traffic	1910
	2-8-0		TF.939	D.53	Goods	1912
	4-6-0		NN.1027	C.35	Express passenger	1914
	2-6-0		G.1204	Z.27	Goods	1917
	2-8-0		K.1353	D.55	Goods	1918
	4-6-0			C.36	Express passenger	1925
	4-6-0			C.30T	Branch line work	1928
	4-8-2			D.57	Heavy Goods	1929
	4-6-2			C.38	Express passenger	1943
	4-8-2			D.58	Heavy Goods	1950
	4-8-4+4-8-4			AD.60	Heavy Goods	1952
	2-8-2			D.59	Goods	1952

See also

• Preserved steam locomotives of New South Wales