Victorian Railways
S class tender restoration


The Victorian Railways did the unthinkable and scrapped the most iconic Australian transportation item in existence – the legendary Victorian Railways S class – S300 Matthew Flinders. This galvanized the railway fraternity into pleading with administrations, politicians etc. in creating a Museum for future generations that contained important relics of our railways past.
Although we lost this magnificent locomotive, its tender was cannibalized to make a new heavy-duty flat wagon and the tender tank was to serve as a fuel oil facility. But time went on many have asked why and can’t we do something about rebuilding salvaging the remaining items so that we have a tangible item to visit touch and admire. Now is your chance to secure the last remaing link to this magnificent loco. Please donate so that we can save this icon for future generations to enjoy.

BSB 063545
Account 10400088
Account name S Class Tender

Donations are tax deductible

List of works to make it roadworthy

Below is not by no means a complete lists of works but gives you an idea of what needs to be completed
  
First thing to do would be to take the body of the underframe and do and inspection.

Removal of the side skirt.  The underframe will be turned over off its bogies so the extensions and gussets can be removed without compromising the structure of the frame. Fitting of brakes will require a choice of either air or load compensating brakes. Rotate the frame back over and remove the ½ inch plating that was added to the deck to turn it into a heavy duty flat wagon. Timber deck as per original would be added back.
 
Concurrently the tank would have new sections rolled to the same profile, as some areas are too thin to save.  The old welds that were not Corten steel will need fixing. It is envisaged that the welding of the verticals and horizontals that caused its demise (1947-8) can be easily overcome with new welds and stress relieving the joints. Up to 3 days of welding alone in this area where the areas will be beefed up and the surface area increased around these troublesome spots. 

Fittings are missing from the front and rear will be restored and some cosmetic items added as they are not required to be functional in today’s era. Eg footplate, ladder area, removal of lift brackets etc.

New side skirts the length of the tender need to be manufactured and panel beating of the rear flare will be attended to.
 
Baffles in the lower half to stop sloshing of the water inside the tender as it was a known problem when running.

The bogies were picked as they were in the best condition and it is expected that only minor work is needed to get them up to running standard.

Scope of works using Seymour’s staff and around their normal allocation of works would probably take 2 years to complete. With outside contractors, Seymour’s help and your donations the time will be shorter.