Australian Steam Locomotive Builders
Here is a list of Australian Steam Locomotive Builders … that is the companies from around the world that built the steam locomotives that were used here in Australia.
I can’t say that the list is complete because I often come across the name of another manufacturer who has built a loco for some obscure Australian customer … and those will be added as I find them.
What I can say about the list is that these companies are the ones who built the steam locos that have run everything from mainline passenger services to small industrial trains consisting of a few skips full of gravel.
The abbreviations
CR | Commonwealth Railways | |
MR | Midland Railway | |
NSWGR | New South Wales Government Railways | |
NAR | North Australian Railways | |
PWD | NSW Public Works Department | |
QR | Queensland Railways | |
Pr | Private operators | |
SAR | South Australian Railways | |
TGR | Tasmanian Government Railways | |
TGRng | Tasmanian Government Railways narrow gauge | |
TMLR | Tasmanian Main Line Railway | |
VR | Victorian Railways | |
VRng | Victorian Government Railways narrow gauge | |
WAGR | West Australian Government Railways | |

Australian Iron and Steel – Port Kembla, NSW
Pr
Andrew Barclay & Co – Kilmarnock, Scotland
PWD, Pr
Armstrong Whitworth & Co – UK
QR, SAR
Arnold Jung – Berlin, Germany
Pr
Avonside Engine Co – Briston, England
QR, WAGR, Pr
Bagnall W G – Stafford, UK
Pr
Baldwin Lima Hamilton – USA
NSWGR, Pr
Baldwin Locomotive Works – Philadelphia, USA
NSWGR, QR, SAR, VRng, Pr
Beyer Peacock & Co – Manchester, UK
NSWGR, QR, VR, SAR, TGR, WAGR, Pr
BHP – Port Kembla, NSW
Pr
Black Hawthorn & Company – Gateshead, UK
Pr
Bundaberg Foundry – Bundaberg, Qld
Pr – various sugar mills along the Queensland coast
Cardiff Railway Workshops – Cardiff, NSW
NSWGR
Clyde Engineering – Granville, NSW
NSWGR
Climax Manufacturing Company – US
Pr
Couillet – Belgium
The company’s full name was: Société Anonyme Usines Métallurgiques du Hainaut – Locomotives Couillet
Pr
Dick Kerr – UK
PR – Marian Mill, Qld
Dubs & Co – UK
NSWGR, QR, WAGR,
Pr – TMLR

Evans Anderson & Phelan – Kangaroo Point, Qld
QR
Eveleigh Railway Workshops – Eveleigh, NSW
NSWGR – numerous classes of locomotives of all types except articulated.
Fox Walker – UK
PR – TMLR
Franco-Belge Corporation – France
QR
George England & Co – UK
VR
Great Central Railway – UK
Pr
Henry Vale & Co – Sydney, NSW
NSWGR
Henschel
Pr – 0-6-0T (b/n 25427/1956) built for Thailand later imported to Australia
H K Porter & Co – Pittsburgh, USA
Pr
Hudswell Clarke – UK
PWD, Pr – Midland Railway WA
Hunslet Engineering Company – Leeds, UK
NSW PWD
Ida Bay Railway 1937 610mm 0-4-2T with full-length canopy

Islington Railway Workshops – Adelaide, South Australia
SAR – numerous classes of all types of locomotives
James Cross – St Helens, UK
QR
James Martin & Co – Gawler, South Australia
SAR, WAGR
John Fowler & Co – Leeds, UK
PWD, Pr
Kerr Stuart – Stoke-on-Trent, UK
Pr
Kitson & Company – Leeds, UK
QR, VR Pr
Lima Locomotive Works – USA
Pr
Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Co – Munich, Germany
NSWGR, PWD, TGRng, Pr
Manning Wardle Company – Leeds, UK
NSWGR, PWD, Pr
Maschinenfabrik Christian Hagans – Erfut, Germany
TGRng
Midland Railway Workshops – Western Australia
WAGR, Pr
Morts Dock – Sydney, New South Wales
PWD PR – Great Cobar Copper Mining Company, two 610mm 0-4-0ST
Munro & Co – Melbourne, Australia
VR

Murray and Paterson – Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland
PR
Aberdare Colliery, Qld
Naysmith Wilson – UK
WAGR, Pr
Newport Railway Workshops – Melbourne, Australia
VR, VRng
Nielson & Co – UK
QR, WAGR
North British – UK
NSWGR, SAR, WAGR, Pr
Orenstein & Koppel – Germany
Pr
Parkinson & Monaghan Engineers – Bathurst Street, Sydney
NSWPD
Peckett & Sons – Atlas Engine Works, Bristol UK
Pr
Phoenix Engine Co – Ipswich Qld
QR
Phoenix Foundry – Ballarat Vic
VR
Queensland Railways – Ipswich Qld
QR
R Hudson
Pr
R&W Hawthorn & Coy – Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK
Pr
Robert Hudson – UK
Pr
Robert Stephenson & Co – Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK
NSWGR, SAR, Pr

Rhodes Timber Company – Taree NSW
Pr
Sentinel Waggon Works – Shrewsbury – England
NAR, TGR, WAGR, Pr
Sharp Stewart – Glasgow – Scotland – TGR
Slaughter Grunning, Bristol – UK
VR, QR
In 1865 this company became the Avonside Engine Company
Smith, Forrester & Co – Brisbane Qld
Pr
Societe Anonyme De Gouillet – Belgium
Pr
Societe Cockerill Serang – Belgium
Pr
Springhall & Frost – Ipswich Qld
QR
Thomas Green & Sons – Leeds, UK
Pr
Toowoomba Foundry – Toowoomba Qld
QR & CR
Unknown
There are quite a few steam locomotives, that worked in various parts of the country, that have become orphans when records were lost and details of the builder became uncertain.
There were also plenty of instances of steam locomotives that were cobbled together by sawmills, and other industries, from bits they had lying around. Few records, other than occasional photos, remain of these locomotives so they will be included here with what information is available.
Unknown – Foden steam lorry parts. Used on the Beaudesert Tramway

Vale & Lacy – Sydney, NSW
NSWGR
Vulcan Foundry – Newton-le-Willows, UK
NSWGR, WAGR,
Vulcan Iron Works – Wilkes Barre, USA
Pr
Walkers Limited – Maryborough, Qld
QR, SAR, VR, CR, TAR, TGR
William Fairbairn & Sons – Manchester, UK
SAR
Yorkshire Engine Company – Medlow Hall Works
QR, Pr

Page last updated 9 October, 2022
Bibliography
Armstrong John, 1986, revised second edition 2017, Locomotives in the Tropics, Volume 1, Australian Railway Historical Society, Brisbane Australia
Clarke Peter, An Australian Locomotive Guide, Rosenberg Publishing, Dural Australia
Lowe James W, 1975 reprinted 2014, British Steam Locomotive Builders, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley UK
McCarthy K, 1983, Gazetteer of Industrial Steam Locomotives Illawarra District, Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division)
Oberg Leon, 1996, 1850s-1990s Locomotives of Australia, Third Edition, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst Australia
Websites
Chris’s Commonwealth Railways Information – comrails.com/sar_locos/r_b_f.html
Puffing Billy – puffingbilly.com.au/
Unless otherwise indicated photographs on this web page are by Weston Langford.
They are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.