#0097
South Australian Railways locomotives 1–3
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by William Fairbairn & Sons· from 1855· Mid-19th century locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Early South Australian locomotive B-24: Government Photolithographer (S.A.)· Public domain
what is it?
South Australian Railways locomotives 1, 2 and 3, the first locomotives delivered to the railway, arrived in time for deployment on the soon-to-be-opened Adelaide to Port Adelaide line. Built in 1855 by William Fairbairn & Sons in Manchester, UK, they arrived at Port Adelaide on the brig Theodore in November 1855, and were unloaded in January 1856; they were assembled and placed service in the succeeding three months. They were named Adelaide, Victoria and Albert but were numbered (1 to 3 respectively) only after many years, and a locomotive class was never assigned to them.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 171 years ago, in 1855.
- Weighs about as much as 4 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 13.1 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 18 years (1856–1874).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1855
- in service from
- 1856
- retired
- 1874
- status
- retired
- number built
- 3
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- William Fairbairn & Sons
- operators
- South Australian Railways
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- wheel arrangement
- 2-4-0
- length
- 13.1 m
- weight
- 25.4 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q24892153, Wikipedia: South Australian Railways locomotives 1–3 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.