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.

Last updated 5 June 2023

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

A WAGR Pmr Class steam loco — *A Pmr Class Loco built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1950*

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

Baguley Cars Ltd – Burton-on-Trent, 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

Borsig – Berlin, Germany
Pr – one loco was built for the Stannary Hills Tramway in northern Queensland

Bundaberg Foundry – Bundaberg, Qld
Pr – various sugar mills along the Queensland coast

Cardiff Railway Workshops – Cardiff, NSW
NSWGR

Climax Manufacturing Company – US
Pr

Clyde Engineering – Granville, NSW
NSWGR

Steam train 3370 at Gosford railway station - Gosford, NSW

3370 arrives at Gosford with a passenger train in 1935
This loco was built by Clyde Engineering and entered service in June, 1911

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 built 20 of these heavy mineral tank locos for the NSWGR — *Dubs & Company built 20 of these large mineral tank locos for the NSWGR in 1891 with delivery in early 1892*

Dubs & Co – UK
NSWGR, QR, WAGR,
Pr – TMLR

Evans Anderson & Phelan – Kangaroo Point, Qld

Eveleigh Railway Workshops – Eveleigh, NSW
NSWGR – numerous classes of locomotives of all types except articulated.

Falcon Engine & Carriage Co
PR – on 2-6-0T b/n 292 of 1897 for the Stannary Hills Tramway in north Queensland

Fox Walker – UK
PR – TMLR

Franco-Belge Corporation – France
QR

Fultons Foundry – Melbourne Vic
PR – one loco 1n 1874 that carried the name ‘Pioneer’ for the Jarradale Jarrah Forests & Railway Company in Western Australia possibly a rebuild of a former tramway motor.

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

*The SAR F Class were built by three different builders from 1902 to 1922. This particular loco was built by Perry Engineering in 1922*

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 – including 0-4-0ST in use building the harbour walls in Mackay Qld

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

*VR K165 on a rural goods train in 1960 – the 53 locos in this class were all built at VR’s Newport workshops and this loco has been preserved*

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
PWD

*Peckett & Sons built this loco in 1926 for Melbourne’s Metropolitan Gas Company. It’s now in the hands of the Puffing Billy Preservation Society*

Peckett & Sons – Atlas Engine Works, Bristol UK
QR 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

625 of the South Australian Railways 600 Class was photographed in Adelaide on 5 May, 1962. These locos had a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement and they were built to operate on everything from heavy mainlines to light branchlines. 10 locos were built by the Railway’s Islington Workshop between 1936 and 1938. All had been withdrawn by September 1969

Rhodes Timber Company – Taree NSW
Pr

Sentinel Waggon Works – Shrewsbury – England
NAR, TGR, WAGR, Pr

Sharp Stewart – Glasgow – Scotland –
TGR

Slaughter Grunning, Bristol – UK In 1865 this company became the Avonside Engine Company
VR, QR

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

steam locomotive bult on a Foden Steam Lorry — A 1944 photo of a chain-driven 2-4-0 steam lcomotive that is believed to have been built using parts from a Foden Steam Lorry. When photographed this locomotive was in use on the Beaudesert Tramway in Queensland

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

J & A Brown’s No 19 (seen here at Hexham in January 1962) was originally built for war service in Europe in WWI but was acquired for use on the Richmond Vale Railway in the Hunter Valley. 12 identical locos were bought at the same time as No 19 with the first arriving in 1926 and the last landing in 1927. The last of these locos were withdrawn in 1973 while this particular loco was out of service by 1967.

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.

Photos marked ** Photo courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales