TANK WAGONS once used on the WOLGAN VALLEY RAILWAY

What is on this page:
1. Identified Vehicles 2. Vehicles, situation uncertain 3. Proposed Vehicles 4. Newnes Connection Disputed
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The following vehicles have been identified:

Tank wagons ex NSW Shale and Oil Co. Ltd.:
Capacity: about 2100 gallons
Count: 20 vehicles
Road numbers: #1 - #20
  • Built by Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd. c.1900 for N.S.W. Shale and Oil Co. Ltd.
  • Taken over by Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Ltd., in 1906.
  • Most, if not all, of these vehicles were scrapped or converted to other uses, firstly at Newnes and, during the 1920s, at Fell's Clyde refinery, by which time they were owned by John Fell.
Ex-NSWS&O Tank wagon
Builder's photo of one of these wagons.
(Photo: Clyde Engineering Archives)

Sulphuric acid tank wagon:
Capacity: not known (about 1500 gallons)
Count: one vehicle
Road number: #9
  • Converted (with a smaller capacity tank) from an ex-NSWS&O tank wagon.
  • Probably one of "sundries" acquired by AI&S, Port Kembla, in 1940.

"Long Tom" tank wagons with off-centre dome:
Capacity: 5000 gallons
Count: five vehicles
Road numbers: #21 - #25
Registration numbers: #5236 - #5240 (these numbers assigned c.1924)
  • Built by Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd. on new "dreadnought" underframes (which see) prior to 1910.
  • Vehicles sold to Shell in 1927, becoming their #87 - #91.
Clyde photo of #22.
Photo of No.22 as assembled by Clyde Engineering. (Photo: Clyde Engineering Archives.)

"Long Tom" tank wagon with centred dome:
Capacity: 5000 gallons
Count: one vehicle
Road number: #26
Registration number: #5241 (this number assigned c.1924)
  • Built by Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd. on new "dreadnought" underframe (which see) shortly after 1910.
  • Vehicle sold to Shell in 1927, becoming their #92.
Clyde photo of #26.
Photo of No.26 as assembled by Clyde Engineering. (Photo: Clyde Engineering Archives.)

Steel frame bogie tank wagons:
Capacity: 5000 gallons
Count: eight vehicles
Road numbers: #27 - #34
Registration numbers: #5242 - #5249 (these numbers assigned c.1924)
  • Built new by Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd., Birmingham (Ashbury works order #1384 of 1911).
  • Probably assembled in Australia by Clyde Engineering.
  • Vehicles sold to Shell in 1927, becoming their #93 - #100.
Bogie Tank wagon
Builder's photo of one of these wagons.
(Photo: Birmingham Library)

Tank wagons on train at Newnes A mixed train standing at Newnes station, probably in the early 1920s.
The first tank wagon is #29, one of the bogie wagons described above.
The second tank wagon is one of the steel-framed 4-wheelers described below.
(Photo: Breedon postcard)

Steel frame 4w tank wagons:
Capacity: 3000 gallons
Count: five vehicles
Road numbers: #35 - #50
Registration numbers: #5250 - #5265 (these numbers assigned c.1924)
  • Built new by Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd., Birmingham (Ashbury works order #1385 of 1911).
  • Probably assembled in Australia by Clyde Engineering.
  • Vehicles sold to Shell in 1927, becoming their #101 - #116.
4w Tank wagon Builder's photo of one of these wagons.
(Photo: Birmingham Library)

4w Tank wagon and shay loco #42, a steel-framed, 4-wheeled tank car (of the type described above), in use on the Wolgan Valley Railway.
(Photo: R Merchant coln.)
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VEHICLES, SITUATION UNCERTAIN:

Wood frame 4w tank wagons:
Capacity: 2500 gallons
Count: four vehicles
Road numbers: #51 - #54 (?)
Registration numbers: #5266 - #5269 (these numbers assigned c.1924)
  • Built by Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd., date unknown.
  • Vehicles sold to Shell in 1927, becoming their #117 - #120.
Shell's road and registration numbers suggest they were owned by Fell by at least 1924, but origin of these wagons is not known. No photo evidence of them at Newnes.
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PROPOSED VEHICLES:

Conversion of abandoned "dreadnought" open wagons:
Capacity: 6500 gallons
Count: up to 18 vehicles
Road numbers: see "dreadnought" wagons
  • Proposed in 1931 by the Shale Oil Development Committee Ltd..
  • Proposal consisted of fitting new tanks to underframes of old dreadnought wagons, which, at that time, were lying abandoned at Newnes and Newnes Junction.
  • Conversions not proceeded with as underframes considered to be too light for this purpose.
Diagram of proposed 9000gal tank wagon
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VEHICLES - NEWNES CONNECTION DISPUTED:

"Shays in the Valley" p.86
The book "Shays in the Valley", by G Hicks and D O'Brien, published in 1999 by the NSW Rail Transport Museum, included (p.86) photos of two 4-wheeled tank wagons. It was suggested that these were wagons that had been used on the Wolgan Valley Railway. The wagons were numbered:
  • #11 - (This wagon is of a type similar to some Ammonia Company vehicles.)
  • #33 - (Unknown type. It has a tank with unusual rounded ends.)
The two photos concerned come from the Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd. archives and are of vehicles built and/or serviced by Clyde. The owners and usage of these vehicles is not known.
  • There is no evidence to suggest that these wagons were ever owned by COC or Fell.
  • The running numbers conflict with those of wagons used by these companies (see lists above).
  • There is no evidence to suggest that they were ever used at Newnes.
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This page last updated 10Nov2006