Largest locomotives in Australia designed and built at Adelaide's Islington workshops, lifted by William Webb
The Sir William Dugan was the first of 10 large 620 class locomotives designed and built at Islington railway workshops in the 1930s. Bottom left: The large Islington complex in the undeveloped ealry 20th Century northwest suburbs. Bottom right: Brill railcars being fabricated at Islighton around an American chassis.
Among his modernising of the government South Australian Railways as its commissioner (1922-30), American William Webb saw a major overhaul of Islington railways workshops.
While most original buildings survived, tools and equipment were replaced with the most modern available, allowing the production of locomotives bigger than ever produced in Australia.
The Islington railyards became one of South Australia's most significant industrial complexes, with a workforce of 1800, among the state's major employers.
Among the big passenger-train locomotives designed and built at Islington was the broad-gauge 620 class. The first of these was the Sir Winston Dugan, named after the state governor and decorated in green and silver. It was the engine for the centenary train that visited sidings and stations around the state during South Australia’s centenary as a European settlement in 1936.
The locomotives, among other rolling stock, built at Islington through to the second half of the 20th Century, included:
- 14 R class steam locomotives
- 1 Y class steam locomotive
- 78 T class steam locomotives
- 2 Z class steam locomotives
- 12 520 class steam locomotives
- 10 620 class steam locomotives
- 10 710 class steam locomotives
- 17 720 class steam locomotives
- 2 350 class diesel locomotives
- 34 500 class diesel locomotives
- 10 900 class diesel locomotives
- 12 Brill 55 railcars
- 38 Brill 75 railcars
- 18 Bluebird railcars
- 111 Redhen railcars
- 9 RL class diesel locomotive
Islington workshops also built 13 Australian Standard Garratt articulated locomotives for the Queensland Railways and Western Australian Government Railways..
A strong community spirit grew among workers at Islington. In 1913, their picnic was Belair National Park and in 1929 six special trains took them to Mount Barker showgrounds for the picnic. That year The News in Adelaide reported on the Islington workshops band played Christmas carols for the workers while the workshops choir sang “Sleep Holy Babe”. Even during the 1930s Depression years, Islington was one of the few industrial sites that continued to provide employment for South Australian Railways workers.
