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The first Locomotives

   
As sugarcane production in the Moreton Central area increased year by year, the loads of cane became heavier and the rakes of trucks grew longer. Some form of locomotive was needed to replace the horses, which could not manage the work. Steam engines had been favoured by the Directors of the Mill from the beginning, but in 1903 they requested a government engineer, Mr A. R. Mackenzie, to act as a consultant for the Dulong Tramway and to provide expert advice. 

He said that the internal combustion engine running on oil, kerosene or petrol was a better and more modern alternative, and a locomotive so powered would be much cheaper to operate than a steam locomotive. It needed only a driver, whereas the steam engine required a driver and a fireman. He estimated that whereas a steam loco would cost 52 shillings per day to operate, a motor-powered loco could be run for only 16 shillings and sixpence, less than one third as much.

Another factor in favour of internal combustion powered locomotives was that they needed only fuel to operate. As well as burning coal or wood, steam engines had quite an appetite for water. The Mill would be faced with the additional expense of providing watering facilities around the tramway network if steam locos were used, as they would of necessity be small engines, unable to carry a large supply of water for extended running. He also noted that a conventional steam locomotive would not be able to climb the Highworth Range due to the steep inclines and sharp curves, and this was one section where the horses were having particular difficulty, their hooves damaging the track as they struggled with their loads of sleepers and rails for the line from Highworth to Kureelpa then under construction.

The Moreton 'motor' had a Tangye single-cylinder engine of eight horsepower that used White Rose kerosene as fuel. The piston had a diameter of 7 inches. It had two large flywheels and was purchased from the Engineering Supply Company of Australia (E.S.C.A.). This engine was connected to a friction clutch and gearbox which allowed for the selection of two forward gears and a reverse gear.

These gears were connected to the driving axle, which was connected to the other axle by means of coupling rods attached to the wheels, all four wheels thus being powered. It was fitted with track brakes, a handwheel and stand pressing brake blocks down against the rails, rather than against the wheel tires.

Attached to this four-wheeled 'motor' was a 28 feet long 'trolley'. This 'trolley' had a bogie at one end, but the other was attached to the 'motor' by a 'kingbolt and two chafing pieces'. This created an articulated vehicle in the manner of a semi-trailer or articulated truck, with half of the weight of the load on the trolley being transferred to the 'motor' to assist adhesion. While designed to carry different loads, its length indicates that the main purpose of the trolley was to carry lengths of rail for tramway construction between Highworth and Kureelpa.

The published description in The Chronicle describes the vehicle somewhat ambiguously as having 'two bogies - the lay bogie and the power bogie, the latter carrying most of the weight of the engine'. The report states that the bogie on the trolley was fitted with an 'ordinary brake' (presumably using a hand crank to press brake shoes against the bogie wheel tires, as with the braked cane trucks and later the bogie vehicles used on the tramway). This motor could pull its loads at speeds of either three or five miles per hour as desired, at a crankshaft speed of 200 rpm. The new locomotive weighed three tons alone, and close to four tons with the trolley attached. It cost the Mill 300 pounds, and upon arrival it was named The Atlas Car.

Though the Atlas Car performed useful work during permanent way construction in the Kureelpa - Dulong area, by and large it was not a success. It was restricted to light loads and would not have been very useful hauling cane - it would have been struggling to lift two fully loaded cane trucks up Doig's Bank, and probably could not have managed three. This was about the same as a team of four horses could achieve. Its clutch plates burned out repeatedly, and it had to be sent to Brisbane on occasion for repairs. In late 1903, when the visit to the area by a reporter and photographer from the Queensland Agricultural Journal took place (described here), they were disappointed to find that the Atlas Car was not there. They wrote:  

"We had hoped to see the motor at work, but it had been sent to Brisbane for some alteration to the clutches and had not been returned when we left."

After a year the Atlas Car was dismantled and its engine used to drive the Mill's electric lighting plant. It was soon found to be inadequate for that task too, and a bigger lighting plant was installed, powered by a steam engine fed from the Mill's boiler.

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Other sugar mills in Queensland were enthusiastically purchasing small steam locomotives to haul their cane trains, so the Moreton Central Mill decided to abandon internal combustion and follow suit. Being short of funds and still under Government control, they purchased a small 0-6-0T side tank steam engine from the agent O. Granowski. Local rumour said it had come secondhand from a line in German New Guinea, but it is much more likely that it was ordered by Arthur Koppel for the Proserpine Mill, and stored in new condition for a period after that order was cancelled due to lack of funds (Proserpine was also a struggling 'guarantee mill' under Government control), before being acquired by Moreton Central.

Built in 1901 by Krauss in Germany (B/N 4687), this engine had 9¹/₄ inch x 12 inch cylinders, and 24 inch diameter wheels. It used Stephenson's outside link motion valve gear, the connecting rod and eccentrics of which were mounted on the third drivers. It was commissioned in July 1904 and named Moreton. This little locomotve proved very successful on the flat lands around the Mill, but could not negotiate the steep route up the Highworth Range which continued to be worked, together with some hilly sections of the Image Flat, Coe's Creek, Perwillowen and Paynter's Creek lines, by a roster of forty horses.

Moreton with an excursion in Mill Street, outside the Royal George Hotel.    Photograph courtesy Sunshine Coast Libraries

The Mill gradually increased its fleet of small locomotives over the years, the engines being named after the various routes in the network. Maroochy, an 0-4-2T, was purchased from Hudswell Clarke in 1914. In 1923 and 1925 two sister 0-6-0T locomotives were purchased from John Fowler's works in Leeds. These were named Coolum and Eudlo. A small 0-4-0T built by Dick Kerr was purchased second-hand from Racecourse Mill near Mackay in 1937 and named Valdora. In 1959 and 1960 two used 0-4-2T locos were purchased from Babinda Mill. These were named Petrie and Bli Bli, and were the last steam locomotives to be placed in service at the Moreton Central Sugar Mill. Of all the conventional locos, Maroochy was the most powerful, as it weighed 15 tons in working order, had cylinders of 10 inches bore and 15 inches stroke, and 29 inch coupled wheels. Coolum was the most reliable.

Maroochy in the Mill yard, with the Shay behind. Note the sacks of coal carried in the cab and the driver's water-bottle hitched onto the cab rail.
Photograph courtesy Sunshine Coast Libraries

All of these engines are still in existence, although none is in working order. An exception of sorts is the Moreton, which still hauls trains on a daily basis, though not in steam. More information, and an album of 32 photographs from the John Browning Collection showing the locomotives during their working lives, is available here.

It is an interesting fact that, as late as 1964, horses were still being employed in the Mill yard for hauling cane trucks, but they were soon  replaced by a steam winch. The last three horses were pensioned off in 1965.
 

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