Locomotive, Steam 3801
The 38 Class had the highest boiler pressure of any locomotive in Australia and the first in NSW to be equipped with roller bearings.
The design represented an advancement of the one-piece cast-steel frame by incorporating the cylinders, main air reservoir, and even the bracket for mounting the air compressor.
The class is significant as it illustrates the increase in locomotive power and the improvements in passenger services in the post-World War 2 period.
Locomotive 3801 is historically significant as the first steam train to cross Australia from east to west, and for its role at the head of the Bicentennial Train, reaching every mainland capital. It has a distinctive and attractive steam-lined form influenced by contemporary overseas designs from the late 1930s in Britain and the USA, as part of a promotional strategy to make train travel seem modern and fast.
Locomotive 3801 has a high level of social significance.
In ‘preservation', Locomotive 3801 has particular significance to the NSW rail preservation community and to the population generally, through its use on rail tours since the mid 1960s and, following its overhaul in 1983-86, its subsequent lease to 3801 Limited.
The 38 Class made extensive use of a number of technical improvements and innovations developed on earlier engines for performance enhancement and reliability. Locomotive 3801 also has the potential to reveal information about the practice of streamlining.
Technically, and apart from the streamlined nose and cowling, it has all the features of the class including the 25 non-streamlined locomotives.
It is also representative of a high-technology mid 20th Century express passenger locomotive, in use up to the introduction of diesel-electric power.
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Locomotive 3801 has significance as the class leader of a very important class of locomotive on the NSWGR, and the ultimate development of the express passenger steam locomotive. The 38 Class had the highest boiler pressure of any locomotive in Australia and the first in NSW to be equipped with roller bearings.
The design represented an advancement of the one-piece cast-steel frame by incorporating the cylinders, main air reservoir, and even the bracket for mounting the air compressor.
The class is significant as it illustrates the increase in locomotive power and the improvements in passenger services in the post-World War 2 period.
Locomotive 3801 is historically significant as the first steam train to cross Australia from east to west, and for its role at the head of the Bicentennial Train, reaching every mainland capital. It has a distinctive and attractive steam-lined form influenced by contemporary overseas designs from the late 1930s in Britain and the USA, as part of a promotional strategy to make train travel seem modern and fast.
Locomotive 3801 has a high level of social significance.
In ‘preservation', Locomotive 3801 has particular significance to the NSW rail preservation community and to the population generally, through its use on rail tours since the mid 1960s and, following its overhaul in 1983-86, its subsequent lease to 3801 Limited.
The 38 Class made extensive use of a number of technical improvements and innovations developed on earlier engines for performance enhancement and reliability. Locomotive 3801 also has the potential to reveal information about the practice of streamlining.
Technically, and apart from the streamlined nose and cowling, it has all the features of the class including the 25 non-streamlined locomotives.
It is also representative of a high-technology mid 20th Century express passenger locomotive, in use up to the introduction of diesel-electric power.
