2565 East Kleindale Road, Tucson, Arizona 85716
When I visited Australia in May 1974, I was surprised to see the
two old engines and the steam boiler with steam engine shown in the
attached pictures. They were in a small park in Port Hedland,
Western Australia. Port Hedland is a small ocean port on the Indian
Ocean in the extreme northwest of Australia. The town had a
population of about 2000 in the early 1960’s.
At top is a Kerosene Engine made by Tangye-Birmingham, England.
Shown in center photo is a Steam Boiler with steam engine made by
Marshall & Sons, Gainsborough and London, England. Bottom
picture is an Imperial Super Diesel made by A.H. McDonald Co.,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. All these engines are shown in a
park in Port Hedland, Western Australia.
The small diesel, made in Melbourne, was belted to a small
alternator that was big enough to carry the load for street lights
after 10 p.m. The population is now over 12,000 due to two new iron
ore export operations and the electric utility has several modern
diesel generator sets. I was not able to find out what the steamer
and the kerosene engine were used for. One person suggested that
they probably were used to run the line shafts in a sheep shearing
operation.
I would like to hear from engine collectors in Australia. I
visit there at least once each year and might be able to see them
on one of the trips.