South Australian Railways K class

The South Australian Railways K Class Locomotives were built by Beyer, Peacock and Company for the South Australian Railways from 1878-1884.

History
The K class locomotives were designed to work on lightly laid track, for the extension from Kapunda to Morgan. This part of the line opened up in 1878. The result of this had the South Australian Railways order the first batch of K class locomotives, which were constructed by Beyer, Peacock and Company. The K class were placed into service on the Kapunda to Morgan line in 1879. Unfortunately the K class was not a very successful locomotive on this service, they were replaced only 12 months after they entered service on the line. They were not successful due to broken crank axles, fracturing of their gunmetal axleboxes and excessive tyre wear on the leading driving wheels. Despite the problems the K class had at first, they were overcome eventually and more K class locomotives were ordered from Beyer, Peacock and Company. After their short stint on the Kapunda to Morgan line the K class successfully worked on the Port line, where they would haul loads up to 550 tons from Adelaide. When these locomotives worked to Terowie, water "gins" were attached for the longer run into the country. Some of the class were used to help with construction trains, including trains required for the Adelaide Hills line to Nairne. K class locomotive No. 60 was subsequently obtained by the S.A.R. from a contractor. When the S.A.R. acquired the Glenelg Railway Company and its railway lines on the 16th of October 1899, the K class were permitted to work on the South Terrace to Glenelg service from Adelaide. Other work was found for the K class on the newly opened Murraylands lines radiating from Tailem Bend and the older Strathalbyn to Milang branchline. In time the larger and more powerful locomotives appearing on the S.A.R. system made this quite useful class of tank engine obsolete.