Steam Locomotive

Believed to be the oldest Australian built steam locomotive still in operational order, Leschenault Lady has earned her place in history. Throughout its working life for the government railways it was numbered G 233. G 233 spent much of its early working life (1909 to 1935) on the isolated Hopetoun to Ravensthorpe railway. After that venture it went to Bunbury as the shunting locomotive on the jetty. It also spent some time in Kalgoorlie and Fremantle.
In 1967 the Bunbury Tourist Bureau, through George Baxter, fought to have the locomotive and some carriages kept in Bunbury for tourism. Two years later a newspaper competition saw G 233 named ‘Leschenault Lady’. It hauled many Vintage Train trips around the south-west. ‘Leschenault Lady’ took part in a number of commemorative events such as welcoming the first Indian Pacific train to Perth in 1970 and the Centenary of WA Government Railways in Geraldton in 1979.
When Bunbury loco depot closed in 1985 G233 was transferred to Boyanup. In 1988 it was steamed to Dwellingup when it was used that year by Hotham Valley Railway. Donated to Rail Heritage WA in the early 1990s, in 1999 Rail Heritage WA volunteers overhauled it at the former Midland workshops. After that overhaul there was no work for it in the south-west and it was sent on loan to the Golden Mile Loopline Railway in Boulder from 2001 to 2005. In 2016, back in Boyanup, the boiler was repaired so that it could steam again.