Commonwealth Railways 4-8-0 No. NM 34
Port Adelaide, SAUS, Australia 		Location: National Railway Museum Port Adelaide
Status: Display
Posted: Aug 12, 2017 @ 16:08:23 by Robin R Beck
One of 22 locomotives built to a Queensland Railway design, their C17 class. The class worked for 25 years until replaced by diesels. As well as working the Port Augusta to Alice Springs line the NM class also worked the heavy coal train from Leigh Creek. This stopped when the line was converted to standard gauge. A large power station was built at Port Augusta using this coal. This has only just closed, because of environmental concerns, not lack of coal. NM34 was in service July 1927. NM 34 was the last operating Commonwealth Railway steam loco, taking a special train on the Pichi Richi line just before it was withdrawn in October 1967.

Only days later it entered the railway museum at Mile End, Adelaide, near where the present inter-state railway station is today. The museum closed 1988 and collection moved to Port Adelaide.

The old 42 inch gauge railway ran from Port Augusta to Alice Springs, known as the Ghan. It was totally by passed when a standard gauge line using a different route was opened to Port Augusta via Alice Springs and on to Darwin. The route is also call the Ghan. The Pichi Richi Railway is the only operating portion left of the old Ghan. For a time a 30 km section from Alice Springs had a steam hauled tourist train, but no longer operates.

Posted: Nov 3, 2006 @ 21:11:18 by Rod Hawkes
Adelaide South Australia