Australian Pacific 2

In 1940's Australia you could see the big streamlined New South Wales Pacific locomotives hauling the ' Newcastle Flyer.'

So successful were these ' C38 ' class engines that the N.S.W. workshops at Eveleigh and at Cardiff built twenty-five more between 1943 and 1948, principally as replacements for the ' C36 ' class 2-cylinder 4-6-Os of 1925 vintage.

The new locomotives were not streamlined, but with their big boilers and tenders, and deep valancing over the wheels, they presented an even more impressive appearance than their earlier sisters. Their 245-lb. boiler pressure was allied to two 21 in. x 28 in. cylinders and 5 ft. 9 in. wheels, giving a tractive effort of over 36,000 lb., or a little more than that of the LNER streamlined Pacifics.

With a total weight exceeding 200 tons, the C38s are limited in their sphere of operations, as described earlier, but on the main lines out of Sydney they used to haul such expresses as the ' Newcastle Flyer ' and ' Riverina Express,' working without change throughout the 400 miles to Albury (equivalent to the journey from London to Glasgow), replenishing their coal supply at Demondrille or the 287 miles to Dubbo, coaling at Lithgow.