What is WAGR U class?
{{no sources|date=November 2023}} [[File:WAGR 655 (5361196894).jpg|thumb|U class No. 655 on display at Bassendean in 2010.]] The '''WAGR U class''' were a total of 14 [[Steam locomotive|steam]] [[Locomotive|locomotives]] originally owned by the [[British]] [[War Office|War Department]] and later operated by the [[Western Australian Government Railways]] (WAGR) from 1946 to 1970. The U class were constructed in 1942 by the [[North British Locomotive Company|North British Locomotive Coy]] under an order from the British War Department for use on railways throughout [[North Africa]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]], they were almost identical to the [[Sudan]] [[Sudan Government Railways|Government Railways]] [[Sudan Government Railways 220 class|220 class]] [[Whyte notation|4-6-2]] engines and were found to be unsuitable on most [[Rail transport|railways]] who required larger engines. Most served in Sudan with several more stored in a dismantled state at a [[military]] railway in [[Derby]], [[England]]. Upon the conclusion of World War II, the British War Department placed the stored locos up for sale, the WAGR jumped at the chance to resolve desperate locomotive shortages. When they arrived they remained as [[oil]] burners due to [[Protest|protests]] on the [[Collie, Western Australia|Collie]] [[Coal mining|coalfields]], they were placed on express passenger service on the [[South Western Railway (Western Australia)|South Western mainline]] to [[Bunbury, Western Australia|Bunbury]] where they performed so well that they were assigned to a newly named train the ''[[Australind (train)|Australind]]'' which at the time was the fastest [[Narrow-gauge railway|narrow gauge]] express in [[Australia]]. However as [[Diesel locomotive|diesels]] began to be introduced they were mostly stored at [[Midland, Western Australia|Midland Junction]] pending withdrawal, however, with more protests on the coalfields, some of the U class were reactivated hauling heavy [[Cargo|goods]] until 1969 when most were withdrawn on