In April 1896, the WAGR placed an order with R&W Hawthorn Leslie & Co for four 4-6-2T locomotives. Meanwhile, the builder had two very similar locomotives that had been built in 1895 for the Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique, Mozambique as part of a cancelled order. A deal was done in May 1896 for the WAGR to purchase them and they entered service in August 1896. The other four entered service in 1896/97.[1] The 1895 built locomotives had different shaped cab windows and side tanks.[2]
They were employed as shunters at Fremantle and Midland. In 1905, Q140 was rebuilt with a new boiler and converted to 4-6-4T configuration with water and coal capacity increased to make it suitable to operate on the Upper Darling Range Railway, Q141-Q143 followed in 1909. They were reclassified as the Qa class.[2]
The numbers and periods in service of each member of the Q class were as follows:[3]
Builder's number
Road number
In service
Rebuilt as Qa
Withdrawn
2312
138
19 August 1896
31 January 1924
2313
139
19 August 1896
31 January 1924
2351
140
5 December 1896
30 September 1905
31 January 1924
2352
141
20 January 1897
13 March 1909
31 March 1925
2353
142
13 March 1897
29 May 1909
31 March 1925
2354
143
13 March 1897
30 June 1909
31 January 1924
Namesakes
The Q class designation was reused for the Q class locomotives that were introduced in 1931. It was reused in the 1990s when the Westrail Q class diesel locomotives entered service.
Gunzburg, Adrian (1984). A History of WAGR Steam Locomotives. Perth: Australian Railway Historical Society (Western Australian Division). ISBN0959969039.