New South Wales C38 class locomotive

The 38 class were first conceived in the 1930s when the NSWGR established there was a need for a locomotive to eliminate the complications of double heading on a number of fast intrastate passenger trains. The design was influenced by the fashion for streamlining at the time, including elements of the class J locomotives of the Norfolk and Western Railway and of some of the streamlined versions of the PRR K4 locomotives in the United States. The design team was headed by Harold Young, the Principal Design Engineer (later Chief Mechanical Engineer) of the NSWGR. The conditions of trackwork with frequent sharp curvature to be traversed at high speed would require six-coupled driving wheels in a 'Pacific' 4-6-2 configuration. Maintenance requirements suggested a two-cylinder simple steam locomotive. The design was carried out by the NSWGR Locomotive Section of the Design Office and incorporated the latest developments in locomotive design from Australia and overseas. The incorporation of as many Australian manufactured components as possible was a requirement at the design stage. Similarly to the earlier D57 class (which had some input from Young), the massively proportioned locomotive incorporated a cast steel chassis. The design also sported cast Boxpok coupled wheels for better rotational balance, and a Delta trailing truck. ==History==

In May 1939, an order for five 38 class locomotives was placed with Clyde Engineering. They suffered many delays during construction, mostly due to resource shortages caused by World War II and the Great Depression. The first five locomotives, built by Clyde Engineering, had a semi-streamlined boiler casing similar to the J class of New Zealand. However with this design, the firemen could not maintain steam in the 245 psi boiler – the highest boiler pressure of any engine in Australia. In early trials on the Southern line, 3801, the class leader, was allocated two firemen. The fault was located when it was found that the shape of the blast pipe prevented steam from the cylinders from passing optimally into the petticoat pipe below the chimney, through which it was ejected to the atmosphere. In turn, this reduced the suction of hot gases through the boiler tubes, making it more demanding to fire. Soon the blast pipe was adjusted, and the C38 class became noted for the clean "bark" of its exhaust. The locomotives built by Clyde Engineering were delivered in wartime grey. After the war, all were repainted green, as the 25 unstreamlined locomotives had been from new. In the 1950s, all except 3813 were painted black. 3801 and 3830 had their green livery restored due to pressure from heritage groups in the 1960s. Among the services they initially hauled were the Central West Express, Newcastle Flyer, Melbourne Limited Express, Riverina Express and South Coast Daylight Express as well as the overnight mail trains. Because of their axle load, they were confined to operating between Sydney and the following extremities of operation: Port Kembla (Coniston), Albury, Dubbo and Maitland, although they worked the North Coast passenger trains to Brisbane until track problems surfaced. The 38 class briefly returned to the former Melbourne Limited Express route in April 1962, when 3830 and 3813 hauled the inaugural standard gauge Spirit of Progress from Albury to Sydney. The first 38 class locomotive was withdrawn in 1961 with the last withdrawn in December 1970. Locomotive 3801 featured in an evocative 1974 short film, A Steam Train Passes, which won many awards and is generally regarded as Australia's finest railway film. File:C38 class locomotive.jpg|3803 File:The Riverina Express, 1946 (4175557960).jpg|3807 on The Riverina Express in 1946 File:NSWGR C38 Class Locomotive 3808.jpg|3808 File:Flyer at Fassifern.jpg|3809 ==Roster==

4 of the 30 38 class locomotives survive-3801, 3813, 3820 and 3830. 3813 is in pieces at Dorrigo after an overhaul in 1972 by the former NSW Rail Transport Museum was forced to be stopped by the then commissioner of the Public Transport Commission, Philip Shirley who ordered that the locomotive's parts be transferred to the scrapyard. The NSWRTM managed a reprive and the parts were sent to be stored in many locations. Components such as the wheels, cab and smokebox were stored in S trucks at Thirlmere, the frame and tender at Clyde and the boiler at Castle Hill until they were donated to the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum. Over time all were donated to the Dorrigo museum and put in storage there. ==References==