WAGR Msa class
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The WAGR Msa class was a class of Template:Whyte Garratt articulated steam locomotives. The class was built at the Midland Railway Workshops and operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) between 1930 and 1963. It was the first Garatt type to be designed and constructed entirely in Australia.
History
The class was preceded on the WAGR system by the M/Ms class Garratts. The class were used extensively on WAGR lines with light rails and sharp curves, as a consequence many of the smaller older branch lines on the Darling Scarp; as well as those with steep inclines such as those on the Mundaring Weir, Nannup, and Flinders Bay lines. In their later years, the boiler pressure was reduced to match that of the M/Ms class. By this stage they had been concentrated on the Bunbury to Boyup Brook and Pinjarra to Boddington lines.[1][2][3]
Contrary to popular belief, the last Msa was not accidentally cut up. In 1951, the Commissioner of Railways issued a directive to the Chief Mechanical Engineer not to cut up any written off locomotives and retain a "strategic reserve" in case they were required for future increases in traffic. In the ensuing years the directive was not strictly adhered to, though Ministerial approval was required before locomotives could be disposed of, which allowed many steam locomotives to survive long enough to be preserved. In 1964, the Commissioner reaffirmed the 1951 directive. A number of locomotives were approved for scrapping in February 1964, though it was specified that Msa, Ds, Es and U Class locomotives be retained, and "NOT TO BE CUT UP" was painted on the locomotives.[4]
In 1965, Rail Heritage WA sent a letter to the WAGR requesting an Msa be retained for preservation. However, the Chief Mechanical Engineer at the time, Sidney Griffiths, believed the Msa was not a successful design and the WAGR refused to offer an example for preservation. Griffiths worked as a draftsman under Frederick Mills on the design of the MSA and later noted that when designing the locomotive there was a directive from the then Chief Mechanical Engineer, Ernest Alfred Evans, to make the firebox of the MSA one foot longer than the MS Class garratt, which threw out all the firebox and boiler proportions and made it a relatively poor steamer.
The MSA were finally approved for scrapping in 1966 and the last MSA locomotive was cut up in 1967.
Class list
The numbers and periods in service of each member of the Msa class were as follows:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
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See also
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