A purple loco ‘Down Under’

YOUR May issue featured ‘West Country’ No. 34027 Taw Valley in purple livery, and mentioned purple has never really been a common choice. That got me thinking, and I dug out my photo of Tasmanian steam engine No. H2 painted ‘Cadbury’ purple some years ago.

Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) took delivery of eight H Class locomotives from Vulcan Foundry in 1951. No. H2 was painted post office red by TGR for passenger train working, received a major overhaul in 1966-7, and was retired in October 1975.

It was preserved and based at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory at Claremont, near Hobart, during the 1980s for use on Derwent Valley Railway tour trains and repainted Cadbury's purple.

This photo was taken on June 12, 1988 at Maydena in the Derwent Valley on one of those train tours, sponsored by local radio station 92FM. The red lion of the Tasmanian coat of arms is painted on the engine's tender.

No. H2 is currently under overhaul by the Derwent Valley Railway at New Norfolk, near Hobart in Tasmania. Graeme Kenderdine By email