Local residents will be familiar with the steam locomotive which is parked at the western end of the Railway Museum. It is a Fowler locomotive which was built in Leeds, UK, in 1927. It was delivered to the Racecourse sugar mill near Mackay in Queensland and worked there until 1963.
The locomotive originally had a tender which carried the coal which was burnt in the locomotive firebox and the water which was pumped through to the boiler to create the steam. Unfortunately, that tender was scrapped in the 1980s.
The locomotive was retired to a playground on the Mackay foreshore where generations of kids climbed it. However, the sea air took its toll and it rusted gently away over twenty two years. Finally, it was condemned in 1993 and was then bought and sold three times before ending up in a scrap yard in Sydney in 2018. Finally, the Milang Railway Museum came across it and our offer to purchase for $5000, plus $3000 to move it, was accepted.
The locomotive arrived in 2021 and was cleaned up and given the coat of paint. Unfortunately, the paint we used was not the best and we are about to repaint it using agricultural enamel which should keep it looking good and shiny for many more years. Children are welcome to climb up into the cab where they can pull the whistle string and hear the locomotive chuff off.
