Hi DTG Jamie in your Workshop Wednesday you showed off a Prairie - I thought you might like to see one of ours at Puffing Billy Railway This is a pan of 8A climbing up grade into Menzies Creek Station, she's a 2-6-2T built by Victorian Railways and essentially a copy of one of the engines they bought from Baldwin. They bought the first two in the class 1A and 2A. 1A was very similar to 8A except a different chimney/funnel. 2A was a Compound with high and low pressure cylinders. Victorian Railways built 3A from parts sent to maintain 1A and 2A and went on to manufacture the remainder of the class up to 17A from scratch. 8A is somewhat different to the others and has a totally different beat due to the different exhaust. In service are 7A, 8A, 12A and 14A 3A is stored as a museum exhibit and unlikely to ever be restored due to her condition - if it was done it would be essentially a new locomotive 6A is stored dry pending funding for a ground up overhaul Paul
