P Class Steam Locomotive
P 508
| Builders: North British Locomotive Co No 441-450 WAGR Midland No 451-465 |
| Coupled wheel diameter 4' 6" |
| Total weight 102 tons 5 cwt |
| Tractive effort 23,638 lbs |
| Coal capacity 8 tons |
| Water capacity 2800 gallons |
| Total number in service 25 |
In 1922 a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into the working of the System of State Railways. In response to the Royal Commission the Railway Department undertook a plan to regenerate the locomotive stock. Part of this plan was for the construction of ten new superheated locomotives for heavy (60lb) lines. These locomotives were the ten initial P Class Pacific's.
Initially it had been proposed that construction be undertaken at Midland Workshops. At this time, however the workshops were fully employed with locomotive overhauls and the superheating program for older locomotives. The tender for construction was therefore awarded to the North British Locomotive Company. The locomotives were placed in traffic between December 1924 and February 1925 and were initially used on express traffic between Perth and Kalgoorlie. The locomotives performed very favourably and were considerably more economical on fuel and water than the F class of similar tractive effort. As a result of the success of the P class arrangements were made for another ten locomotives to be built at Midland workshops. The first of the new locomotives entered service in February 1927. The Midland built locomotives differed from the North British locomotives in that to save money use was made of tender underframes from scrapped R class locomotives. This resulted in shorter tenders with a smaller coal and water capacity. A further five locomotives were built in 1929 bringing the class to a total of twenty five units.
P 508 entered service on 21 February, 1925 carrying the number P 448. It became P 508 on 5 June, 1947 and was withdrawn from Narrogin depot on 18 July 1968 and was condemned on 10 February, 1969. After a period of storage it was placed in the Rail Transport Museum on 8 October, 1971.