Puffing Billy Australia - Turning A Climax

On the 20th of March 2015, geared Climax steam locomotive 1694 ran between Belgrave and Emerald for the purpose of turning the locomotive around. Emerald is the only location on the Puffing Billy Railway with a turntable. The locomotive was turned in preparation for Puffing Billy's 'Commissioners Special' held on the 28th of March 2015.

Climax locomotive No.1694 is the only one of these locomotives to survive intact. It was built in 1928 by the Climax Manufacturing Company, Corry, Pennsylvania, USA, for the Forests Commission of Victoria.

The distinctive feature of the Climax locomotive is that the cylinders do not directly connect to the driving wheels. Instead they drive a cross shaft near the centre of the locomotive. From there the drive is transmitted to the small driving wheels through rotating shafts, universal joints, and bevel gears. The driving wheels are mounted in two four-wheel bogies so that they can easily follow sharp curves in the track. None of these features are found in normal steam locomotives.

The result is a locomotive that is extremely powerful for its size, and that will cope with sharp curves and steep grades with ease. But this is at the cost of speed, Climax locomotive No.1694 is just about flat-out at 13 km/h (8 mph).

The Puffing Billy Railway is a narrow gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge heritage railway in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, Australia. The primary starting point located at Belgrave station and terminating at Gembrook 25.1 km (15.6 mi) away.
The railway owns every remaining narrow-gauge locomotive of the former Victorian Railways, and has restored to operating condition all except one, although not all are in serviceable condition at any one time. This fleet comprises five restored and one unrestored 2-6-2T NA class locomotives (3A is unrestored, while 6A, 7A, 8A, 12A and 14A have all been restored), and one G class Garratt (G 42) locomotive. All are restored, or being restored, to represent different eras in their working life.

Puffing Billy Website:
http://www.puffingbilly.com.au/