WAGR Pm and Pmr classes

The WAGR Pm and Pmr classes were two classes of 4-6-2 tender steam locomotives run by the Western Australian Government Railways from 1950 until the early 1970s. With the railways short of locomotives and carrying a backlog of repairs deferred from the Second World War, authority was given to build 35 Pacifics. Midland Railway Workshops were first meant to build ten of them, but capacity constraints led to the whole order going to the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. Nineteen were built as the Pm class, with plain bearings on the coupled axles and roller bearings on the carrying axles, and sixteen as the Pmr class, with roller bearings on every axle; one Pm was later converted to a Pmr at Midland. All entered service in 1950. They were meant for passenger work, but their independently sprung driving wheels gave a rough ride that could not keep schedules, so they were soon moved to fast freight, and all were withdrawn between 1970 and 1972.