P441-P465 (as delivered), renumbered P501-P517 in 1947
Last run
1969
Preserved
P508
Disposition
1 preserved, 24 scrapped
The WAGR P and Pr classes were two classes of 4-6-2steam locomotives designed for express passenger service on the Western Australian Government Railways mainline network. The initial designs were prepared by E.S. Race[1] and together the two classes had a total build number of thirty-five locomotives, the P and Pr classes entering service in 1924 and 1938 respectively. Both classes were used on express passenger services, greatly improving the economy and speed of long-distance passenger travel in Western Australia, the results of which were most visible on the Western Australian stage of the Trans-Australian Railway and Westland Express.[2]
The need for more powerful locomotives in the 1920s resulted in the introduction of twenty-five P class locomotives which provided a significant improvement in power, speed and economy over previous WAGR locomotives, quickly proving to be a highly successful design.[3] The Great Depression of the 1930s, coupled with the effects of the Great War, thwarted the WAGR's later expansion and acquisition plans resulting in many obsolete locomotives remaining in operation into this period. As a result ten new P class locomotives featuring detail improvements to boilers, valves and bogies were introduced in 1938, a year before the outbreak of World War II. The new locomotives became the first WAGR engines to be given names, each bearing that of a prominent Western Australian river. These 'River class' locomotives were very successful and proved so invaluable to the operation of the wartime WAGR that eight P class locomotives were modified to their standard.[4] All eighteen locomotives were officially classified as the Pr class in 1946.[5]
^Gunzburg, A., A History of WAGR Steam Locomotives (1982), p.102
^Higham, Geoffrey (2007). Marble Bar to Mandurah: A history of passenger rail services in Western Australia. Bassendean: Rail Heritage WA. pp. 137–139. ISBN978-0-9803922-0-3.
^ abMcNicol, Steve (1994). WAGR Steam Locomotives in Preservation. Elizabeth: Railmac Publications. pp. 18, 23–27. ISBN9780949817976.
^Rogers, P., Troops, Trains and Trades (1999), pp7-8
^Gunzburg, A., A History of WAGR Steam Locomotives (1982), Pr class details, pp.103-104