HISTORY OF THE MARY VALLEY RATTLER'S C 17 967
THE LOCOMOTIVES
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967 at Bulcock Beach Courtesy: K. MacDonald. |
With the cessation of World War 2 in 1945, the Queensland Railways was in a situation where locomotives and rolling stock were suffering the effects of six years of heavy use. Queensland Railways was one of the main transport systems supplying the materials for the war in South East Asia and was facing a large re-construction program after 1945. Even though, the need for locomotives was great, due to the nature of the track, only C 17 class locomotives could be utilised on a large portion of QR. (Please see the link to C 17 802). Thus it was decided to order this type of locomotives to help in the post-war years.
In 1947, 20 C 17 type locomotives were ordered from Walkers Limited of Maryborough, Queensland. These would be different from the pre-1939 C 17, in that they had Timken Roller Bearings and weighed about 4 tonnes heavier than the earlier version. Sedan type cabs were utilised, which gave the crew more protection from the weather. They were painted brown with green trimming, and were called the “Brown Bombers”.
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963 sister engine to 967 at Esk Station, Brisbane Valley Line. |
C 17 967 entered service in August 1950 and worked in the Central Division based upon Rockhampton. C 17 class locomotives in the Central Division worked the mail trains west from Emerald and also the Emu Park and Yeppoon seaside trains. Mostly though, they worked the good trains and branch lines, of which there were many in the Central Division. After 19 years of service, 967 was withdrawn from service in November 1969. It was set aside for preservation and placed in a park at Caloundra, near Bulcock Beach.
In 1985, it was bought by the Ghan Preservation Society for preservation in Alice Springs. The Commonwealth Railways NM class (which used to work the famous Ghan train to Alice Springs) were built to the same overall design as the Queensland C17's and 967 was purchased in 1985 by the Ghan Preservation Society, Alice Springs, Northern Territory and exhibited as 'gatekeeper' at their site. In 2000 No. 967 was purchased by Beaudesert Rail and moved to Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, and was restored to operation in early 2003 for use on Beaudesert – Logan Village tourist trains. After Beaudesert Rail was placed into receivership, No. 967 was removed from Beaudesert to the Ipswich Railway Workshops during March 2006.
On 22 August 2007, the MVHR bought C 17 967 outright, through a tendering process with QR. C 17 967 is a welcome addition to the MVHR’s motive power fleet and will ensure the sustainability of the Rattler in the years to come.
Locomotive in the Tropics Vol 2. John Armstrong. ARHS.1994.
Historical Archives: QR. Accessed 19 September 2007.
