The Phoenix Foundry was a company that built steam locomotives and other industrial machinery in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Over 30 years they built 352 locomotives for the Victorian Railways, of 38 different designs. [1]
The Phoenix Foundry was established in 1854 to build mining machinery and was incorporated as the Phoenix Foundry Co. Ltd. in 1870. [2]
The company was established by iron-founder William Shaw, moulder Robert Holden, and engine-smiths Richard Carter and George Threlfall. The business prospered, and by November 1861 it employed 96 men, producing a wide range of products. From around 1858 the employees were working an eight-hour day while doing as much work as English workers did in ten hours. [3] In 1871 Phoenix completed the locomotive named Governor Weld which was the first steam locomotive to operate in Western Australia. Also in August 1871 the foundry successfully tendered for the first Victorian Government railway locomotive contracts, with the first locomotive being delivered on 27 February 1873, and by 1884 over 350 men were employed. Modernisation of the works was carried out after Shaw visited Britain in 1871 and 1885, with the workshops becoming the most advanced in the southern hemisphere. The hundredth locomotive was completed in April 1883 and the two hundredth by October 1887. [3] The majority of locomotives built were duplicates of imported 'pattern engines' designed and built overseas by other companies. [4]
Problems arose in 1889 when Shaw attempted to enforce a non-union shop, which resulted in conflict with the employees. [3] Further trouble arose regarding the foundry's relationships with the Victorian Railways (VR), with a tender war erupting between Phoenix and the VR Newport Workshops for the construction of Dd class 4-6-0 light-line locomotives. [5] A Royal Commission was appointed in October 1904 to resolve the question of the 'real costs' of production. The Commission found in favour of Newport, which could produce a locomotive for £3,364 - some £497 cheaper than Phoenix's cost, and noted that Phoenix was making a 23 percent profit on each locomotive. Phoenix received no further orders from the VR beyond the seven members of the Dd class which were delivered in 1904. The works lasted another year until the directors entered voluntary liquidation. [5]
Locomotives built by the Phoenix Foundry for the Victorian Railways included: [6] [7]
The foundry received an Engineering Heritage Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program. [11]
The F Class are a class of diesel locomotive shunters built by Dick Kerr Works for the Victorian Railways between 1951 and 1953. They are similar to the British Rail Class 11 and NS Class 600 shunting locomotives also built by English Electric during this period, but modified for use on the VR's 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge.
The Victorian Railways X class was a mainline goods locomotive of the 2-8-2 'Mikado' type operated by the Victorian Railways (VR) between 1929 and 1960. They were the most powerful goods locomotive on the VR, aside from the single H class, H220, which was confined to the North East line, until the advent of diesel-electric traction, and operated over the key Bendigo, Wodonga, and Gippsland mainlines.
The A2 class was an express passenger locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1907 to 1963. A highly successful design entirely the work of Victorian Railways' own design office, its long service life was repeatedly extended as the Great Depression and later World War II delayed the introduction of more modern and powerful replacement locomotives.
The K class was a branch line steam locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways in Australia from 1922 to 1979. Although its design was entirely conventional and its specifications unremarkable, the K class was in practice a remarkably versatile and dependable locomotive. It went on to outlast every other class of steam locomotive in regular service on the VR, and no fewer than 21 examples of the 53 originally built have survived into preservation.
The Victorian Railways H class was an express passenger steam locomotive operated by the Victorian Railways from 1941 to 1958. Intended to eliminate the use of double heading A2 class locomotives on The Overland services on the steeply graded Western line to Adelaide, wartime restrictions led to only one locomotive being built. Nicknamed Heavy Harry, H220 was the largest locomotive ever built in Australia and the largest non-articulated steam locomotive to run on Australian railways.
The Victorian Railways J class was a branch line steam locomotive operated by the Victorian Railways (VR) between 1954 and 1972. A development of the successful Victorian Railways K class 2-8-0, it was the last new class of steam locomotive introduced on the VR. Introduced almost concurrently with the diesel-electric locomotives that ultimately superseded them, the locomotives were only in service for a relatively short time.
The DD class (later reclassified into D1, D2 and D3 subclasses) was a passenger and mixed traffic steam locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1902 to 1974. Originally introduced on mainline express passenger services, they were quickly superseded by the much larger A2 class and were relegated to secondary and branch line passenger and goods service, where they gave excellent service for the next fifty years. The DD design was adapted into a 4-6-2T tank locomotive for suburban passenger use, the DDE (later D4) class. They were the most numerous locomotive class on the VR, with a total of 261 DD and 58 locomotives built.
The B class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Victorian Railways in 1952–1953. Ordered and operated by the Victorian Railways, they initiated the dieselisation of the system and saw use on both passenger and freight services, with many remaining in service today, both in preserved and revenue service. Some were rebuilt as the V/Line A class, while others have been scrapped.
Operation Phoenix was a post-World War II rehabilitation program carried out by the Victorian Railways (VR) in Australia. The program commenced in 1950 and was originally planned to take 10 years and cost £80 million pounds. Operation Phoenix was named after the bird from Egyptian mythology.
The AA class was an express passenger locomotive that ran on the Victorian Railways between 1900 and 1932. The largest, heaviest and most powerful 4-4-0 steam locomotive to run in Australia, it was the final development of this locomotive type in Australia.
The mainline passenger locomotives, later classified as B class, ran on the Victorian Railways (VR) between 1862 and 1917. They used a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement, which provided greater traction on the new, more heavily graded Geelong–Ballarat railway and the Melbourne-Bendigo-Echuca railway, as opposed to the 2-2-2 arrangement previously selected for the relatively level Geelong line. The B class locomotives are regarded as the first mainline VR motive power, and were highly successful in passenger operations.
The Victorian Railways E class was a class of electric locomotive that ran on the Victorian Railways (VR) from 1923 until 1984. Introduced shortly after the electrification of the suburban rail system in Melbourne, Australia, and based on the same electrical and traction equipment as Melbourne's early suburban electric multiple unit fleet, they provided power for suburban goods services and shunting for six decades.
The Victorian Railways M class were 4-4-0T (tank) steam locomotives for suburban passenger service in Melbourne, a pattern engine being supplied in 1879 by Beyer, Peacock & Co. Twenty-one further locomotives of this model were built by the Phoenix Foundry of Ballarat, in three batches, from 1884 to 1886. They were numbered 40, 210-240, and 312-320, and were classed M in 1886.
Victorian Railways 'Old' V class were the first government goods steam locomotives on Victorian Railways, built by George England & Co. The four 0-6-0 tender locomotives were built in 1857–8 with builder's numbers 142–145. They arrived in Port Phillip in September 1858 along with 2-2-2 passenger locomotive No. 1.
The Victorian Railways V Class is a steam locomotive, used on the Victorian Railways in the period 1900-1930.
The Victorian Railways Z class were three locomotives built in 1893 in Victoria, Australia. The class is unusual in that the third member of the class bore little resemblance to the first two. One example of the class survives, at the Scienceworks Museum in Melbourne.
The Victorian Railways Y class was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives.
The E class was a class of suburban tank steam locomotive that ran on Australia's Victorian Railways (VR).
The 23 Victorian Railways T class locomotives were built from 1874 as a light lines goods engine.
Victorian Railways No.1 was the first government passenger steam locomotive on Victorian Railways(VR). It was a 2-2-2 tender locomotive built in 1857 by George England & Co. with their builders number 146. It arrived at Port Phillip in September 1858 along with 4 goods locomotives of 0-6-0 tender configuration.