| Victorian Railways H class | |
| Powertype: | Steam |
| Designer: | William Meikle |
| Builder: | Phoenix Foundry |
| Serialnumber: | 40-47 |
| Builddate: | 1877-1878 |
| Totalproduction: | 8 |
| Height: | 13inchesft0inchesin (ftin) |
| Fueltype: | Coal |
| Boilerpressure: | Nos. 146, 148, 152 (1904): Nos. 154, 156 (1904): Nos. 150, 158, 160 (1904): |
| Cylindercount: | 2 |
| Tractiveeffort: | at 100 psi |
| Operator: | Victorian Railways Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway |
| Fleetnumbers: | H146-H160 (even only) |
| Firstrundate: | September 1877 |
| Lastrundate: | 19 February 1916 |
| Disposition: | 1 tender preserved at Newport Railway Museum, all engine units scrapped. |
The Victorian Railways H class was a class of light line passenger locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways between 1877 and 1916.
During the late 1870s, William Meikle had designed a pair of 4-4-0 locomotives and had them built at Williamstown Workshops. These locomotives would be built using spare parts of engines from the Geelong & Melbourne Railway Company and were numbered 38 and 40 (later G class). Meikle would develop upon this design and placed an order of 8 from the Phoenix Foundry of Ballarat in 1877. While these were originally unclassed, they were later classed 'H' in 1886.
Upon completion, the locomotives were similar to the 1874 K class and G class in both power and weight, but with driving wheels of 5 feet diameter instead of 4 feet. One strange feature was the inexplicably small grate area. Four-wheeled tenders with a 7-foot wheelbase were fitted.
H150 was noted as being in motor service in 1908.
All the locomotives were removed from the Victorian Railways register between 1905 and 1916. The boiler of H156 went to Bendigo shed in 1912.H130 was sold to Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway for £600 on 31 May 1909 and was later sold to Smith and Timms, SA in 1912. Last seen at Mile End, SA in 1922.[1]
One tender from one of the H class locomotives is preserved at the Newport Railway Museum, attached to Crane No. 2. This tender had last been used on Crane No. 3 (ex-Z526) until its withdrawal in 1978.
| Key: | In Service | Preserved | Stored or Withdrawn | Scrapped |
|---|
| Locomotive | Builder No. | Entered service | Withdrawn | Scrapped | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H146 | 40 | Scrapped | |||||
| H148 | 41 | Scrapped | |||||
| H150 | 42 | Scrapped | Sold to Trawalla and Waterloo Tramway - 31 May 1909. Sold to Smith and Timms, SA - 1912. Last seen at Mile End, SA - 1922 | ||||
| H152 | 43 | Scrapped | Boiler to Bendigo shed | ||||
| H154 | 44 | Scrapped | |||||
| H156 | 45 | Scrapped | |||||
| H158 | 46 | Scrapped | |||||
| H160 | 47 | Scrapped |