New South Wales E17 class locomotive

The New South Wales E17 class was a class of patent long boiler steam locomotives built by Robert Stephenson and Company for the New South Wales Government Railways of Australia. In the 1860s the Main South and Main West lines were being extended to Goulburn and Bathurst over grades of up to 1 in 30, so a heavy goods engine was needed, and the design was based on Stephenson's patent long boiler engines of 1843 for the York and North Midland Railway. The first order, for six locomotives, was placed in service from 1865 on goods workings, and further engines were built by Vale and Lacy in Sydney and other local firms, so that 23 were running by July 1879. Two engines written off in a collision in 1878 were replaced by new locomotives from Stephenson, and number 18 survives, statically preserved at the NSW Rail Museum in Thirlmere.