Victorian Railways J class (1954)

The Victorian Railways J class is a class of 60 steam locomotives of the 2-8-0 type, built by Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows in 1954 for branch line work in Victoria, Australia. Developed from the successful K class, it was the last new steam class the Victorian Railways introduced, designed for gradients as steep as 1 in 30 and for later conversion to standard gauge. Thirty were built as coal burners and thirty as oil burners. They arrived almost alongside the diesel-electrics that soon replaced them, were mostly shunting engines by the late 1960s, and J550 worked the last steam revenue service on the system in May 1972. J515 was the last in service, withdrawn from Newport Workshops in 1978. Eleven of the class are preserved, and J515 now hauls tourist trains on the Victorian Goldfields Railway.