Engine 5178 Newcastle to Toronto, 1966 Part 1

Engine 5178 recorded between Newcastle and Toronto, NSW in 1966. Part of the James Bird Collection of Steam Trains of NSW in the National Film and Sound Archive.

This recording was made from the front platform of the leading carriage, engine running tender first. 5178 was one of 280 D50 class standard goods locomotives used in Australia. They were a 2-8-0 design were originally built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester, UK and also constructed by Dubs, Neilsen Reid, North Br¬itish and Clyde Engineering at Granville in NSW. They were the first engines to be built by Clyde Engineering in 1907 and 30 of this class were built there.

The most famous of this class of locomotive is 5115 which was driven by Prime Minister Ben Chifley before he entered politics and is on display at Bathurst Railway Station. The D50 class were built between 1896 and 1916 and some remained in operation until the mid 1960s.

This recording was made on 21 August 1966 between Newcastle and Toronto, NSW and is part of the James Eric Bird Collection of Steam Trains of NSW. Mr Bird was the first manager of the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, and recorded numerous trains around NSW in the 1960s. His family would be delighted if his recordings were used and appreciated, so they are downloadable under a Creative Commons licence and we would love to hear of any use or re-use you may find for them.