Victorian Railways P class (1859)

The Victorian Railways P class was a class of goods locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways between 1860 and 1921, built by Beyer, Peacock & Company, Manchester, England.

History
Victorian Railways initially numbered passenger and goods locomotives separately, the engines were numbered 5–9. This was changed in the late 1860's to odd numbers for goods locomotives and even numbers for passenger locos with these locomotives taking the odd numbers 1–9. This odd and even system remained in use until 1912. In 1886, they were allocated to Class P.

Production
The five locomotives were built in 1859 with builder's numbers 115–119 at an average cost of £3779-12-0 for each loco. They arrived in Port Phillip in March 1860.

Regular service
In addition to regular goods service, some were loaned to contractors, like Cornish & Bruce, for line construction and ballasting purposes. In 1894, all were allocated to Bendigo.

Design improvements
Over the years they were fitted with various alterations to the cabs. There were also various upgrades over the years; with constant improvements to safety — these including things like updates to safety valves (and domes), smokeboxs and chimneys (with spark arrestors), and brakes. P1 received a new boiler in December 1894. Then between 1903 and 1906 they were all reboilered with a new boiler pressures of 150psi.

Demise
P3 was withdrawn in 1917, P5 and P9 in 1919, P7 in 1920, and P1 in 1921.