Farewell N class Mikados Victoria Raiiways 1966 

Farewell N class Mikados Victoria Railways digital upgraded version of coverage of the outing to Ballan with double headed N class steam locomotives 468 and 475 in 1966 with 8mm silent movie film.
The final runs of N class steam locomotives of the Victorian Railways was in October 19 96.
Shown is the scene at Spencer Street station Melbourne before the train departed for Ballan
The train is seen arriving at Ballan and the locomotives the locomotives being serviced and turned before returning to Melbourne.
The now removed turntable was also host for a strategically placed walker rail motor and trailer.
Some of these scenes were shot from the walker rail motor trailer.
The Victorian Railways K class 2-8-0 steam locomotives, all built before 1923, were not designed for possible conversion to standard gauge which was envisaged to replace some of the broad gauge lines in Victoria.
Therefore, the later N class locomotives were designed for such possible conversion.
The N class were largely mechanically similar to the K class. They except had a trailing truck under the firebox which allowed the firebox to be wider and so not be an obstacle to gauge conversion.
This consequently meant a longer boiler than the K class resulting in a longer locomotive.
However, by the time the first standard gauge line to Albury was built, the N class were being withdrawn from service. Thirty N class steam locomotives were built at the Victorian Railways workshops at Newport between 1925 and 1931.
Another 50 were later built by North British, and yet another 20 were ordered from Newport workshops, of which only three were built due to the later J class steam locomotives with higher boilers, and being mechanically similar to the K and N class, and designed for easy conversion to standard gauge, being adopted.
The newer J class, unlike the N class, could use branch lines which had shorter 50 and 53 foot turntables. Ten N class locomotives were sold to the South Australian Railways during a locomotive shortage there and became the South Australian Railways 750 class. Two survive. One is in the Railway Historical Society Museum at Newport Victoria and the other is in the National Rail Museum in Adelaide South Australia.