South Australian Railways O class (second)

The Launceston and Western Railway opened in 1871 and had a track gauge of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm). This locomotive (No. 1) was in service with another 4-4-0 tank engine for the opening of the line on the 10th of February 1871. When the Tasmanian Government took over the line in October 1873, this locomotive became a member of their A class. In 1885 the line was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and the four A class locomotives became redundant. In 1888, No. 1 was sold to a private company in Victoria for use between mines at Woolamai and a jetty at Queensferry. Shortly after, it was put into storage until 1910. It was then sold to Smith and Timms for use on the construction of the railway line to Angaston from Gawler in South Australia. The side tanks were removed, which left the locomotive with only a small tank. It was supplemented with a small four wheeled tank which was coupled to the engine.

Once construction was completed on the Gawler to Angaston line, the contractors sold locomotive No. 1 to the South Australian Railways in February 1912 as No. 204. No. 204 eventually became classed as the second O on the SAR network between 1918 and 1919. The O classes' service on the SAR mainly consisted of shunting at Mile End and Port Adelaide, during which it got a boiler from a Q class locomotive via a rebuild at Islington Railway Workshops.[2]