South Australian Railways A class

The South Australian Railways A class was a small class of three broad gauge 2-4-0 well tank locomotives built by Robert Stephenson and Company in England. The first two arrived at Port Adelaide in September and October 1868, and a third, final locomotive followed in 1873. The design closely followed the well tank engines that Stephenson had supplied to the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company in Victoria between 1854 and 1871, differing mainly in the size of the cab. The three were the first broad gauge locomotives fitted with outside cylinders. Found too rigid and too heavy for the lightweight rails of the Roseworthy to Forrester's line, they moved to the Port Adelaide line and then to suburban passenger and goods work and shunting around Adelaide, Port Dock and Milang. Number 20 was withdrawn first, in 1893, and numbers 19 and 1 were condemned in 1923 and 1924.