Victorian Railways NA class


The Victorian Railways NA class is a 2-6-2 tank locomotive built for their 2 ft 6 in gauge branch lines.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works in the United States supplied the first two 2-6-2 tank locomotives, as well as a range of spare parts. These were used to construct locomotives 3 and 4, with further examples of the class entering service up to the last, number 17, in 1915. Engines 2 and 4 used compound high- and low-pressure cylinders, while the rest of the class used simple expansion.
By the mid-1920s these small locomotives were not able to handle the increasing traffic, and two G class Garratt locomotives were purchased to supplement the fleet.
The locomotives weigh and produce a tractive effort of, allowing them to haul loads of up grades of 1 in 30. Numbers 6, 7, 8, 12, and 14 have been restored and operate on the Puffing Billy Railway, and No. 3 is also on the Puffing Billy Railway, awaiting eventual restoration. The remaining locomotives have all been scrapped.
A gauge replica of a NA class locomotive was built in 1993 for use on the Isle of Mull Railway. The engine, named "Victoria", was built by the Mouse Boiler Works, using drawings provided by the Puffing Billy Railway. It operated on the Isle of Mull until the railway's closure in 2011, and is currently operating on the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway.

Preservation

Gallery