Reviews

NSWGR Z19 Class 0-6-0 HO scale r-t-r locomotive and tender by Casula Hobbies, 62 Moore St., Liverpool, NSW 2170. www.casulahobbies.com.auPrice $795.00 (DC) and $895.00 (DCC).

The prototype

In the late-1870s, the New South Wales Government Railway (NSWGR) system acknowledged there was a need for additional goods hauling locomotives that could cope with the grades and rail curvature of the expanding country network. The railway department looked at the 0-6-0, four-foot driving wheel configuration, which had been successful on the system to that point and placed a substantial order with Beyer Peacock in Manchester, United Kingdom (UK). The first of the order of 50 arrived in 1877, the last in 1881. Initially classified Class 93, then the A Class when the two NSW rail systems unified in 1889, with the remaining locomotives becoming the Z19 class in the 1924 renumbering.

In total, a further 27 were constructed, built in the UK and by local builders, the construction of these locomotives being a story of its own. As with most new locomotives, some modifications were needed and after the boiler had been lengthened and its position raised, a few other modifications were made. They were very successful locomotives, both.