Reviews

SAR F class 4-6-2T Suburban Tank Locomotive, r-t-r in HO scale by Orient Express Reproductions, 2 King William Rd, Unley 5061. Ph: (08) 8271 7861. Website: www.orientexpressmodels.com.au . Prices in text.

Prototype

In the early 1900s Adelaide’s suburban services were primarily worked by the P class 2-4-0T locomotives. It was realised that rapidly expanding traffic on the suburban network required a larger engine, and so came about the F class 4-6-2T suburban tank engines. Entering service from 1902, 44 members of the class were eventually constructed over a 20 year period by Islington Workshops (22), James Martin & Co (12) and Perry Engineering (10). These well-proportioned locomotives quickly took over suburban passenger and freight haulage. They were well suited to fast passenger trains with their large 5'3" (1.6m) driving wheels, and were capable of sustained speeds of 60mph (100km/h).

Initially, the locomotives entered service with oil lighting and had no ‘hungry boards’ fitted to the bunker. Buffers were fitted, as was hook drawgear. However, by the early 1920s, the locomotives were equipped with electric head and marker lights, fed by a Pyle-National turbo generator mounted on the top of the Belpaire firebox, and ‘hungry boards’ had been fitted to extend fuel range. Dual-coloured, twin beam rectangular headlights (one white, one red lens) were installed to each locomotive as part of this process. These headlights were replaced during the 1950s with a small circular single-beam headlight. Knuckle couplers appear to have been installed between the late 1920s and mid-1930s, presumably as the locomotives were shopped for overhaul.

They were common on suburban passenger workings to destinations such as Marino, Belair, Blackwood, Salisbury, Henley Beach, Outer Harbor, Semaphore, Port Dock, Northfield and Penfield. Coal and water supplies limited the F class’s range outside of these destinations, though two F classes (F236 and F170), were fitted with extended ‘hungry boards’ for use on ARHS tour trains, where the engines worked as far north as Hamley Bridge and Kapunda and as far south as Willunga. One F class was reportedly stationed at Strathalbyn during the 1920s to work the branch line to Milang.

On most lines they were capable of hauling suburban consists of five suburban centre- and end-loading coaches, or five steel 800/860 class cars. The only line on which the load was restricted was the steeply graded line through the Adelaide Hills to Blackwood and Belair, where train lengths were limited to three coaches. The locos also found themselves relegated to yard pilot and transfer goods locomotives in the metropolitan area, primarily working between Mile End, Dry