Victorian Railways C class
The C class was a mainline goods locomotive of the 2-8-0 'Consolidation' type that ran on the Victorian Railways between 1918 and 1962. Although its original design had some key shortcomings, a number of improvements were made over the class' long career on the VR, many of which were subsequently applied to other locomotive classes on the system.
VR photograph of C 1, as built in 1918.
C 16 circa 1923, as converted to run on pulverised brown coal
Victorian Railways C class 2-8-0 locomotive No. C 10, as preserved at the Newport Railway Museum, and shows the final configuration of the class with electric headlamp, smoke deflectors, automatic staff exchanger and oil firing.
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companies failed or defaulted, the Victorian Railways was established to take over their operations. Most of the lines operated by the Victorian Railways were of 5 ft 3 in. However, the railways also operated up to five 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge lines between 1898 and 1962, and a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard gauge line between Albury and Melbourne from 1961.
Preserved S303 in Victorian Railways blue and gold livery in Seymour, Victoria
The Spirit of Progress headed by S301 Sir Thomas Mitchell near Kilmore East in 1938
Head office at 67 Spencer Street
Norman Charles Harris