The Shark-Nosed Governor: South Australia's 520 Class and the Coin That Does It Justice
No. 520 was named after a Governor who loved railways enough to have a large-scale model railway installed at his own property. The South Australian Railways returned the gesture by putting his name on their most striking new locomotive.
This 2025 50c Coloured Uncirculated Coin from the Royal Australian Mint's Steam Giants – Australian Rail Heritage collection features No. 520 — Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey — the class leader of South Australia's most distinctive steam fleet.
The 520 Class was built during the Second World War, when materials were scarce and construction was difficult throughout. Chief Mechanical Engineer F.H. Harrison was designing a locomotive capable of hauling heavy express passenger trains at speed — 500 long tons at 70 miles per hour — and powerful enough to take the Adelaide Hills route unassisted. The 1-in-45 gradients through the Hills were the kind of terrain that stopped lesser machines cold.
For the streamlined casing, Harrison looked to America. The design was inspired by the Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 class, spotted in a copy of Railway Age magazine in 1942. The first three locomotives — including No. 520 — got a rounded shark-nosed front. The nine that followed had a sharper profile. Either way, the 520 Class looked unlike anything else running in Australia at the time.
No. 520 entered service on 10 November 1943. Two days earlier it had been named Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey at a ceremony at Adelaide Station. Barclay-Harvey was an enthusiast — genuinely so, not just as a formality — and the naming was a fit. He retired from the Governor's post in 1944 and returned to Scotland, but the name stayed on the locomotive.
The 520 Class handled South Australia's heaviest express work for years. When steam ended, most were scrapped. Ten of the twelve are gone. No. 520 was condemned in 1969, reinstated in 1970, and eventually passed to SteamRanger Heritage Railway, which cares for it today. Restoration is ongoing.
The coin: 31.51mm diameter, 15.55 grams, copper-nickel, uncirculated finish. Mintage capped at 35,000. Price $17.50.
Among the seven locomotives in the Steam Giants series, No. 520 is the one with a name — not just a number or a class designation, but a person and a story behind the nameplate. For SA collectors it's local history. For everyone else, the wartime construction and American-inspired design give it plenty to work with.
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