Steam Locomotive No. 3265

Locomotive 3265 is the 65th locomotive produced in the 32 class – so, according to the convention, called Loco 3265.

The 32 class steam locomotive was probably the most successful and enduring steam locomotive in Australia. Designed by William Thow, Locomotive Superintendent of the New South Wales Railways, in consultation with the builder, Beyer, Peacock & Company of Manchester, England, the first locomotive of the class entered service in New South Wales on 10 February 1892.

The image above and those following show work on the rebuilding/ restoration of Locomotive No. 3265 on 15 July 2004 by RailCorp's breakdown gang with Powerhouse staff.

The 'English express locomotives', as they became known, soon developed a reputation for versatility and reliability, and they continued in use until displaced by diesels from the mid-1950s. In fact a 32 class locomotive hauled the last regular steam-hauled passenger service on the New South Wales railways. The year in which that took place is at the bottom of this column….

In all, 191 locomotives of the 32 class hauled passenger, mail and goods trains over a varied career which spanned eight decades, two world wars, two depressions and the post war boom.

In 1999 the boiler and smokebox had been lifted off the engine frame in order that the frame and running gear could be exposed and repaired. When these repairs had been completed in mid July 2004, it was time to lift the frame off the wooden blocks on which it had been supported, and lower it back onto the rails.

Some of the reasons for their longevity may lie in the fact that locomotives of the 32 class were popular with train crews, being good steamers and capable of a 'good turn of speed'. Mechanical staff found them simple and easy to maintain and repair while administrators considered them economical to run, and failures were infrequent. They were so versatile that the 32 class could work anything from express trains to mixed traffic and even shunting.

The process involved lifting the frame on these hoists.

The grandest role for a 32 class locomotive was hauling the Royal Train for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York for the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament in 1901.

There was a hoist at each corner of the frame.

Locomotive 3265 was commissioned on 6 January 1902 and operated on the New South Wales rail system for 66 years until 1968. It is the only surviving member of the class with its original low frame. This locomotive's most famous duty was in the mid-1930s when, named Hunter and in its splendid maroon and black livery, it hauled the Newcastle Businessmen's Express to and from Sydney.

With the frame hoisted up off the supporting wooden blocks (the hoists were raised and lowered by the man operating the machine at right), the blocks could be removed, allowing the frame to be safely lowered onto the rails.

In the immediate post-war period, 3265 was based at Enfield and Eveleigh depots but by 1948 it commenced an almost 20-year assignment to country depots including Junee, Cowra, Broadmeadow and Bathurst.

In January 1968, after many years of main and branch line working, 3265 was retired and set aside for preservation at the request of the Museum, then better known as the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. At that time, the Museum lacked the storage facilities for the larger items in its collection, and 3265 was for many years cared for by the NSW Rail Transport Museum at Enfield and later Thirlmere. It would be 20 years before the Museum would be in a position to offer 3265 the prospect of a better future.

In 1988, following an arrangement reached with the State Rail Authority (SRA) and 3801 Limited (an entity established in 1986 at the initiative of the SRA to operate and preserve steam locomotive 3801 and a fleet of vintage carriages [not in the Powerhouse collection]), the Museum relocated locomotives 3265 and 3830 to the Large Erecting Shop at the former steam locomotive workshops at Eveleigh rail yards near Redfern in Sydney.

The last regular steam-hauled passenger service in the New South Wales (a 32-class service) was in 1971.

A model of Locomotive 3265 showing how the restored full-size engine will look. The restored Locomotive 3265 will haul steam tours and be used for displays, just as Locomotive 3830 has been since it was restored.

The restoration of loco 3265
Following its award-winning restoration of steam locomotive 3830, the Powerhouse Museum has taken on another mammoth challenge: the rebuilding to operating condition of its classic 'P' class 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive 3265.

The restoration (or strictly speaking, rebuilding) of steam locomotive 3265 commenced in early 1998 and has attracted steady support from a volunteer team working with Museum conservators at Eveleigh.

The volunteer team, mostly retired and entitled to put heavy work behind them, has nevertheless worked with enthusiasm on the rebuilding 3265 – as indeed many of them did on the restoration of Loco 3830.

Checking all the wheels are correctly on the rails.

Several companies that had been involved in the rebuilding of 3830 are also assisting with 3265. Lovells Springs of Homebush very generously replaced all the leaf and coil springs (as they had for the Loco 3830 project). Precision Scale Models of Melbourne confirmed their continuing sponsorship with the donation of two more fine scale HO gauge models of 38 class locomotives to be used to raise funds, and Ross Simpson Engineering reconditioned all the valves at no cost.

More shots of the day's work here and below....

By 1999 disassembly had reached the stage where heavy crane lifts were necessary to remove the boiler and smokebox off the frame. With the frame fully exposed and the running gear stripped down, it became apparent just how hard the engine had been worked in its final years of service. Almost every wearing surface was worn down to well beyond tolerance. Many parts were bent, broken or incorrectly fitted. The laborious process of repairing the frame and running gear continued over the next two years.

The stripped-down and shot-blasted tender frame in which more than 200 rivets had to be replaced.

The skills and resourcefulness of the volunteers have contained costs and minimised contract work, although some jobs such as re-profiling the driving wheels required specialised machinery. From the leading bogie to the drawbox, every component was reconditioned and rebuilt and, in the process, almost every rivet was replaced.

The RailCorp breakdown gang members who lowered Loco 3265 onto the rails - a hazardous job which they acccomplished with a minimum of fuss, and a maximum of precision and skill.

In mid-July 2004, the restoration reached a significant milestone with the completion of all the rebuilding work under the engine frame, and completion of 3265's rolling chassis.

The frame, which had been supported on wooden blocks, was lifted off them, and then lowered back onto the rails in a precision operation by RailCorp's breakdown gang (pictured in the photos at left) – carried out by RailCorp as an exercise at no charge to the Museum.

Museum conservator, Ross Goodman, who is overseeing the conservation of 3265 (as he did with 3830) also worked on the lowering of the frame to the rails.

Much still to be done
Much has been achieved in this rebuilding project, thanks to public donations and in kind support from industry – but much is still to be achieved. If you are interested in contributing to this exciting restoration project to return locomotive 3265 to steam in the maroon and black livery of its glory days, in the first instance, please contact Andrew Grant, the Museum's senior transport curator, on ph (02) 9217 0211 or email him on andrewg@phm.gov.au.

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