| Victorian Railways L class (1861) | |
| Powertype: | Steam |
| Builder: | George England and Co., Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (7) Slaughter, Gruning & Co., Bristol, UK (3) |
| Serialnumber: | George England: 156 - 159, 164 - 166 Slaughter & Grüning: 408 - 410 |
| Builddate: | 1859 - 1860 |
| Totalproduction: | 10 |
| Axleload: | 1904 diagram: |
| Locoweight: | 1904 diagram: |
| Boilerpressure: | 1904 diagram:
|
| Cylindercount: | 2, inside |
| Cylindersize: | 1904 diagram: |
| Tractiveeffort: | at 100 psi 1904 diagram - 130psi: |
| Operator: | Victorian Railways |
| Numinclass: | 10 |
| Fleetnumbers: | Numbers at delivery: 16-25 (never ran with these), Numbers in service: 14-32 (even only) |
| Deliverydate: | 1860 |
| Firstrundate: | January 1861 |
| Lastrundate: | 20 January 1906 |
| Withdrawndate: | 1900 - 1906 |
| Disposition: | All scrapped |
The Victorian Railways L class was a class of passenger locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways between 1861 and 1906, built by both George England and Co., Newcastle upon Tyne, England and Slaughter, Gruning & Co., Bristol, England.
Victorian Railways initially numbered passenger and goods locomotives separately, the engines were delivered with numbers 16–25. This system was changed before these locos entered service to odd numbers for goods locomotives and even numbers for passenger locos with these locomotives taking the even numbers 14–32. This odd and even system remained in use until 1912. In 1886, they were allocated to Class L.
Seven locomotives were built by George England and Co. in 1859 with builder's numbers 156–166, and a further three were built by Slaughter, Grüning & Co. in 1860 with builder's numbers 408–410 at an average cost of £3305-18-8 for each loco.
Upon introduction they were used on the Williamstown and Geelong lines, and hauled the first train on the Geelong–Ballarat line in 1862. In 1893, seven were allocated to Melbourne and three were stored.
They finished their days on suburban lines such as the to section of the Outer Circle line and the Burnley to Darling line.
Over the years they were fitted with various alterations to the cabs. There were also various upgrades over the years; with constant improvements to safety — these including things like updates to safety valves (and domes), smokeboxs and chimneys (with spark arrestors), and brakes.
L14 received a new boiler in 1875, L26 in 1884, L16 & L18 in 1885, and L24 in 1886.
L28 was used as a stationary engine at Newport Workshops to drive forging machines between 1900 and . L16 was used as a stationary engine at Mathieson's siding, from 1902. In September 1904, L32 had its tank, wheels, axles, and brakes removed and was sold to Sanderson's saw mill, Otway Ranges for £250 where it apparently survived until finally being scrapped .
The remainder were withdrawn between 1904 and 1906.
| Key: | In service | Preserved | Stored or withdrawn | Scrapped |
|---|
| Locomotive | Previous numbers | Builder no. | Entered service | Withdrawn | Scrapped | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L14 | 16 | 156 | Scrapped | Reboilered - 5 August 1875 | ||||
| L16 | 17 | 157 | Scrapped | Reboilered - 17 December 1885. Stationary boiler at Mathieson's siding - 1902 | ||||
| L18 | 18 | 158 | Scrapped | Reboilered - 26 October 1885 | ||||
| L20 | 19 | 159 | Scrapped | |||||
| L22 | 20 | 164 | Scrapped | |||||
| L24 | 21 | 165 | Scrapped | Reboilered - 28 April 1886 | ||||
| L26 | 22 | 166 | Scrapped | Reboilered - 13 June 1884 | ||||
| L28 | 23 | 408 | Scrapped | Stationary engine at Newport - 1900 | ||||
| L30 | 24 | 409 | Scrapped | |||||
| L32 | 25 | 410 | Scrapped | Sold to Sanderson's saw mill (£250) - September 1904 |
