Paxman Diesels in Australia

Much of the information on this page was supplied by Tony Marvin of Richmond, NSW. Tony worked for Ruston & Hornsby (which then held the controlling interest in Paxman) during the Second World War. After the war he emigrated to Australia where for many years he was a Ruston-Paxman Service Engineer. He worked on several of the engines listed below.

The page lists some of the Paxman Heavy-Fuel-Oil engines and later diesels sold into the Australian market. The listing is interesting for the insight it gives into the numbers, types, and applications of engines exported to Australia, particularly in the post-war period. The range of applications, from naval/marine to industrial and rail traction is fairly typical for Paxman engines.

Engines marked with an asterisk in the following tables are known to have been sold out of Ruston & Hornsby's Sydney office.

Vertical Heavy-Fuel-Oil Engines

For a history and description of this type see the page Heavy-Fuel-Oil Engines. Orders for Paxman Heavy-Fuel-Oil Engines sent to Australia included the following:

Illustration of the two 4VKE engines installed at Port Lincoln Freezing Works,
from a book on lubricating oils published by the Shell Oil Company in the 1930s.
According to the caption under the photograph they were each rated at 240 bhp.

The four cylinder Bundaberg distillery engine (No 24337) was sold through Noyes Brothers of Sydney, possibly through their Brisbane office. Noyes were also the agents for some of the other engines listed above. Pictured right is the engine as it was when installed in the engine room at the Millaquin distillery. No 24337 was still in use in 1984 when Tony Marvin visited the plant.

In a letter published in the April 1992 issue of 'Stationary Engine', Tony reported the Bundaberg engine had recently been removed and was lying outside exposed to the weather. He appealed for some organisation to secure the engine for preservation. Shown here is the engine in the redundant machinery scrap area at Millaquin. We do not know if Tony's appeal was ever answered and would be interested to hear whether the engine has found a new home.

The effects of prolonged exposure to the elements are only too evident in the case of the two cylinder Paxman vertical heavy-fuel-oil engine shown on the right. When the picture was taken in November 2001 the engine was standing outside, with the flywheel lying beside it, at a Rockhampton heritage site, about 150 miles north of Bundaberg. As yet we have no details of the number or previous history. One wonders if there are any plans for restoration and whether the engine could be put under cover until its future is decided.

In much better condition is a four cylinder vertical which finished its working life at the Alluvial Tin Mine, Emmaville, near Glen Innes, NSW. The engine was bought second hand, taken to the mine in pieces, and re-assembled there in 1940. It possibly came from the Norco Butter factory at Byron Bay about 100 miles away. The mine closed in 1960. The pictures, left and below, were taken in the early 1990s. Now there are plans to remove the engine to the local museum and set it up on permanent display. Tin mining was a worthwhile venture just after World War Two until the price of tin dropped too much for it to be viable.

Judging by the physical dimensions Tony thinks the engine is a VKE. It had been hoped we could establish the engine's number and look up the original order details. Sadly someone has now stolen the number plate which is going to make the engine much more difficult to identify with certainty. If anyone can confirm where the engine came from this would be of great assistance. In the picture to the right, at the free end, one can see the vertical shaft which drives the camshaft. The latter can be seen just above the staging and above that the large operating levers for the spring injection system. There were other Ruston horizontal engines in the shed at the mine but these have now gone.

Paxman Heavy Duty Diesel Engines

For a history and description of this type see the page Heavy Duty Diesel Engines. Orders for Paxman Heavy Duty Diesel Engines sent to Australia included the following:

Surviving Paxman Heavy Duty Diesel Engines

I am aware of only two surviving Paxman Heavy Duty Diesel engines, both of which are in Australia.

No 24054 - built in 1933

A five cylinder Type VZ engine, No 24054 was ordered in November 1932 by Coates & Co Pty Ltd of Melbourne for the Sanitarium Health Food Company at Warburton, about 40 miles east of Melbourne. Built under Order No 18024, it was despatched from the Colchester factory on 21st March 1933 and had a rating of 125 bhp at 750 rpm. At Warburton the engine ran in parallel with a 350 bhp hydro-electric plant. In a book on lubricating oils, published by the Shell Oil Company in the 1930s, there is a photograph of the engine installed at Sanitarium's factory. The caption underneath includes the words "Coupled to 83 K.W. Lancashire D.C. Generator". The caption under another photograph in the same book notes that the engine is fitted with the Paxman-Bosch Fuel System (which superseded the spring injection system previously used by Paxman on its oil engines). Separate gear pumps supplied oil to the bearings and camshaft and a separate sump was fitted for the camshaft lubrication oil supply. The camshafts were driven by a silent roller chain with automatic tension adjustment.

Illustration of No 24054 installed at the Sanitarium Health Food Company, Warburton,
shown in the Shell Oil book mentioned above.

With the help of Terry Jenkins and Barry Cureton in Australia it has been possible to compile a relatively detailed history of the engine up to the early 1980s.

Terry Jenkins of Melbourne doggedly pursued enquiries into the local history of the engine. He was eventually successful in tracking down a copy blueprint General Arrangement drawing by Davey Paxman & Co (Colchester) Ltd which is dated 3-12-32 and carries Reference No 20376. The drawing was done for the agents, Messrs Coates & Co Pty Ltd. Terry also managed to find a three page report on the Warburton Hydro Electric Plant dated 14th November 1960. This confirms that the engine was installed in 1933 with a direct coupled 83kW 250 volt DC generator. Sanitarium built a new factory at Warburton in 1937 and the 5VZ was transferred to it in 1938. At this point the DC generator was replaced by an 83kW, 415 volt, 3 phase, 50 cycle alternator. During 1954, after more than twenty years service, the Sanitarium Health Food Company replaced the Paxman 5VZ with an 8 cylinder 420 hp Mirrlees driving a 285 kW alternator.

After being removed from the Sanitarium factory in 1954, the 5VZ and alternator were installed in the Hollandia Shoe factory at Lilydale, on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, about 22 miles west of Warburton. In late 1981, possibly in December, Barry Cureton removed the generator set, in sections, from the Hollandia factory and took it to his workshop at Croydon. The shoe factory was about to be demolished and the site redeveloped with shops and small factory units. Barry remembers being told at the time that the generator set had been at Warburton previously and that it had been at Lilydale since the mid-1950s. This fits with the information that the engine was replaced at Warburton in 1954.

When Barry took the engine out of the Hollandia factory, it had not run for a while. Some contractors had serviced the engine in mid-1981, after which it was impossible to start.  Barry and his colleagues resolved the problems after working out the correct direction of rotation, the firing order (13542 - No 1 nearest flywheel), cam timing and the operating sequence of the Bosch fuel pump. Barry's records show that the engine had air starting and was coupled to a 105 kW, 3 phase, 50 cycle, 180 amp alternator. The 105 kW rating is different from the 83 kW rating, quoted above, of the alternator fitted in 1938. Barry queries whether the quoted 83 kW rating was incorrect and should have read 105 kW.

In mid-1982, after overhaul by Barry and his team, the engine and alternator were installed at a gold mine site north of Maryborough, which is about 90 miles north west of Melbourne. It is not known how long the engine remained there or for how long the mine operated.

The last reported sighting of the engine, coupled to its Lancashire alternator, was at the Maryborough Council depot. Although the maker's plate has been removed, there is no doubt it is No 24054. The fabricated underframe is identical to that in a photograph, taken by Barry, of the engine under load at the gold mine site in 1982. It has been suggested that the engine was at Maryborough Knitting Mills before ending up in the Council depot at Maryborough but as yet there is no evidence to support this.

No 24054 at Maryborough Council depot

The engine now looks in rather a sad state but most of it appears to be there so it is perhaps restorable.

No 24413 - built in 1934

To the best of my knowledge, No 24413 is the only surviving Paxman Heavy Duty Diesel Engine still in working order. This four cylinder Type VZ was supplied to the Griffith Producers' Co-op Co Ltd in 1934. Used by the Griffith Producers' Co-op from 1934 to 1965 to power refrigeration plant, it is now in preservation at the Pioneer Park Museum, Griffith, NSW.

Left: No 24413 at Pioneer Park Museum, Griffith, NSW.

RQ, RW, and RX Engines

[ RQ/RW/RX - descriptions and technical details ]

RPL Engines

Tony worked on the two gold mine engines in Victoria. He remarks that they had bad fuel problems in 1947 because "we got a lot of rubbish in fuel in those days".

The 5RPL listed in the above table was purchased in September 2003 by Terry Jenkins of Melbourne for restoration and preservation. A naturally-aspirated engine with a rating of 56 bhp per cylinder at 600 rpm, Engine No 700264/2 Serial No 586, weighs 7¾ tons (7,891 kg). It was originally purchased by Wendouree (northern suburb) Woollen Mill, Ballarat, Victoria, known locally as Myer's Woollen Mill. The operator's manual for this engine was issued on 27 April 1951.

The 6RPL, No 000033/4, is believed to have been built in 1951. The generator set was purchased from the Royal Australian Air Force at 'Beacon Hill' near Brookvale, North Sydney by Pemara Packing for Aus$18,000 in 1974-5. It was shipped by road to Melbourne and installed at Pemara's 35 Henderson Road, Clayton North plant until 1982 when the factory and generator were moved to 274 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill, about a mile away. In the 1990s the engine failed after lubricating oil was contaminated by water leaking from cylinder seals resulting in damage to bearings and crankshaft. Macfarlane Generators were called in to quote on repairs but no work was put in hand. The unit was eventually given to the Lake Goldsmith Steam Preservation Association Inc who shipped it to Lake Goldsmith, west of Ballarat. The engine was purchased by Terry Jenkins (who also owns the 5RPL described above) in late 2003. With the help of some friends, Terry undertook the major logistical task of moving the unit, at the end of February 2004, nearer his home in Melbourne ready for restoration work to be carried out.

[ RPL - description and technical details ]

RPH Engines - 6 Cylinder

[ RPH - description and technical details ]

RPH Engines (Z = Marine Auxiliary)

The following details were copied from Tony Marvin's old record book. All the engines in this table are pre-1960.

All the Metters' engines were later bought by The 600 Group (George Cohen Sons & Co) and resold overseas.

Bob Mills took delivery of No 700196/9 in spring 2005. Geoff Swilks had acquired it previously about 17 years ago from Ashford Power Station to power the induction furnace at his foundry, north of Armidale. Geoff decommissioned it as it had insufficient power and was expensive to run, after which the engine stood outside for about 15 years. Bob is confident of getting it running again with a minimum of work despite the fact it was seized when he took delivery. Paxman records show that this engine is an RPH Series I which was built by Paxman into a 330 kVA generator set with a BTH alternator. It was ordered on 28th June 1948 by Ruston & Hornsby, Brisbane, through Ruston & Hornsby, Lincoln. It was despatched on 11th March 1949 and the eventual customer is recorded as Glen Innes Municipal Council, NSW. The contract records say the engine was to be reconditioned to "as new standards" which would imply that it was built from a 12TP engine as were many other RPH Series I engines. It is not recorded which 12TP engine was used or what its previous history was.

RPH Series I

RPH Series II Engines in NSW 41 Class Locomotives

Information on the locomotive engines listed in the table below was supplied to Tony Marvin on 21st November 1956 by Mr Jack Lewis, Chief Engineer, New South Wales Government Railways. The engines, each rated 500 bhp at 1,250 rpm, were fitted in ten heavy Bo-Bo twin-engined diesel-electric shunters. These NSW 41 Class locomotives were built by Metro-Cammell for British Thomson-Houston and introduced in 1953-54 to handle freight transfer traffic in the Sydney area. Tony does not think any exist now. Apparently they were not a great success and were probably sold off to overseas buyers.

A 12RPHL engine for rail traction, No 500014, was also supplied to A.W.A. at Gore Hill.

Ventura and YH

The Metcentre, at 60 Margaret Street, Sydney, has a Paxman Ventura and a YH engine driving MacFarlane alternators to supply emergency power to the building. (There is no public access to the generator sets for obvious safety reasons.) The turbo-charged Vee 12 engines were installed in 1976/77 by Stone Platt Electrical of Victoria.

The Ventura 12YJC is rated at 1,400 bhp at 1,500 rpm, and the 12YHC at 1,050 bhp at 1,500 rpm. Both are still going strong after quarter of a century's service.

Valenta and VP185 Engines for Rail Traction

Paxman supplied a total of twenty four 12 cylinder Valenta engines for the XPT (Express Passenger Train) power cars introduced into regular service by the State Rail Authority (SRA) of New South Wales in 1982. The trains proved highly successful and four more engines were ordered in 1990 for four additional power cars. For more details see the Diesel Rail Traction page.

The power cars have now been re-engined with the Valenta's successor, Paxman's 12 cylinder VP185 engine.

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Page updated: 25 Jan 2010