NC Class - History

History

The Lakewood Firewood Company Pty Ltd (LFC) provided timber to the various mines in the "Golden Mile" region of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Its operations extended to the south and east of Kalgoorlie. This area covered from Kalgoorlie to Lake Lefroy and the Eyre Highway.

At the time of ordering, the LFC were using an aging fleet of small steam locomotives. But by the time the locomotives were delivered, the company were in the middle of a rapid decline for demand for wood as mines closed or switched power sources.

By the time they were delivered, traffic on the LFC network had fallen from two trains a day, to two trains a week. Their introduction led to the end of steam operations on the railway, although they were unpopular with crews "only because they were die-hard steam men". By 1962, the company employed less than 50 people, a far cry from the 550 employed at its peak.

The last train ran on December 1964, to clean up the system. All of its rollingstock, except the two diesels, were scrapped.

Commonwealth Railways purchased the two locomotives in 1965. LFC1 - now NC1 - spent time in Port Augusta workshops where her braking systems were modified for the Westinghouse air brake systems, the modified air intake system was removed, and her livery changed to the CR paint scheme of the day.

It is unclear if the class were fitted with multiple unit control systems during manufacture, or during the work that CR undertook on their arrival at Port Augusta (One source has suggested with was done in Port Augusta, as serious consideration was given by the CR to run the locomotives on the Hawker Line - then being worked by locomotives hired from the South Australian Railways.

It appears that NC1 was modified, and NC2 was left.

However, NC1 was shipped north to Darwin in November 1966, where it was employed as yard shunter. It returned south in 1972.

NC2 was used as yard shunter in Port Augusta, South Australia until 1970, until NB30 - a CR built shunter - returned from her duties on the Hawker line. Subsequently, NC1 replaced NB30 as Yard Shunter in 1972, with NC2 being used as a source of spare parts.

By 1982, NC1 had become more or less obsolete. The need to maintain a narrow gauge yard shunter at Port Augusta had diminished with the closure of the Central Australia Railway in 1980.

In July 1982, NC2 was sold to Pichi Richi Railway, and in 1985, NC1 was transferred to the now defunct Steamtown.