New South Wales 422 class locomotive

The 422 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Department of Railways New South Wales in 1969/70.

New South Wales 422 class
Australian Railroad Group 2208 at Newport in September 2006
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Builder Clyde Engineering, Granville Serial number 69-656 to 69-674, 70-675 Model EMD J26C (42220 rebuilt to J26C-2SS) Build date 1969–1970 Total produced 20
Specifications Configuration: ​  • UIC Co-Co Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) Wheel diameter 40 in (1,016 mm) Length Over headstocks: 56 ft 4 in (17.17 m) Over coupler pulling faces: 60 ft 6 in (18.44 m) Width 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) Height 13 ft 11 in (4.24 m) Axle load 18 long tons 0 cwt (40,300 lb or 18.3 t) Loco weight 108 long tons 0 cwt (241,900 lb or 109.7 t) Fuel type Diesel Fuel capacity 1,200 imp gal (5,500 l; 1,400 US gal) Lubricant cap. 166 imp gal (750 l; 199 US gal) Coolant cap. 175 imp gal (800 l; 210 US gal) Sandbox cap. 12 cu ft (0.34 m^3) Prime mover EMD 16-645E RPM range 315–900 Engine type Two-stroke V16 diesel Aspiration Roots blower Generator EMD D32B-D14 Traction motors EMD D77B, 6 of Cylinders 16 Cylinder size 9.0625 in × 10 in (230 mm × 254 mm)
Performance figures Maximum speed 77 mph (124 km/h) Power output 2,000 hp (1,490 kW) Tractive effort Continuous: 70,920 lbf (315.47 kN) at 7.7 mph (12.4 km/h)
Career Operators Department of Railways New South Wales Public Transport Commission State Rail Authority of NSW FreightCorp Interail Australian Railroad Group CFCL Australia Genesee & Wyoming Australia Aurizon Watco Australia Southern Shorthaul Railroad Number in class 20 Numbers 42201–42220 Nicknames Rattlesnakes First run 10 January 1969 Current owner Aurizon Genesee & Wyoming Australia Watco Australia Disposition 13 in service, 2 stored, 5 scrapped

History

The 422 class were the first Australian locomotives built with non-streamlined dual cab bodies. Manufactured by Clyde Engineering, Granville, they were introduced into service on the Main South and Illawarra lines where they would spend most of their New South Wales careers hauling passenger and freight services. Among the services they hauled were the Canberra Express, Intercapital Daylight, South Coast Daylight Express, Southern Aurora, Spirit of Progress and Sydney/Melbourne Express.

In 1980 42220 was rebuilt by Clyde Engineering, Rosewater, receiving an AR16 alternator, a new electrical system and Super Series wheel slip technology. It was a test bed for many of the features incorporated into the 81 class.[1]

From 1982 they began to operate through to Melbourne. This ceased in February 1990 when non air-conditioned locomotives would no longer be accepted by Victorian drivers.[2]

With the formation of National Rail, the 422s were all allocated to the new interstate carrier in July 1995 pending delivery of its NR class locomotives.[3] This saw them again frequently operating to Melbourne, albeit usually as second units and over new territory to Parkes via Forbes and from August 1996 via the North Coast line to Brisbane.[1][4] When they were returned to FreightCorp in September 1997, their Southern duties were now being handled by Class 81s so most were stored.[5]

In 1999 42202 and 42206 were sold to FreightCorp's North Coast sub-contractor, Northern Rivers Railroad passing with the business to QR National in May 2002.[6]

By January 2000 only 42203 and 42220 remained in service with FreightCorp; these having been fitted with air-conditioning. These were retained primarily to operate CountryLink services from Sydney to Griffith and from January 2000 over new ground on the Outback Express to Broken Hill.[7] These were sold to Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia in 2001 and later rebuilt as HL203 and FL220.[6]

In May 2000, the other 16 were sold to the Australian Southern Railroad and transferred in one movement from Werris Creek where they had been stored to Dry Creek, Adelaide[8] where they were gradually reactivated. Some were placed in service operating construction trains on the Alice Springs to Darwin line as well as in South Australia and Western Australia. Others returned to New South Wales on hire to other operators. It was decided to rebuild all 16 as the 22 class which among other modifications saw air-conditioning fitted, although only 14 ended up being completed at Downer Rail, Port Augusta.[6][9][10]

With the splitting up of Australian Railroad Group, 11 passed to Aurizon in February 2006 and five to Genesee & Wyoming Australia in June 2006.[11][12][13][14][15]

Status

As at October 2014, 13 remained in service with Aurizon, CFCL Australia and Genesee & Wyoming Australia with seven in store.[16] In January 2015, four were sold to Apex Industrial and exported to Durban, South Africa being scrapped in December 2015.[17][18] Both CFCL Australia units were sold to Watco Australia in 2016 and transferred to Perth to operate Brookfield Rail infrastructure trains.[19][20]

NSW No	Serial No	Entered Service	Current/Last Owner	Current No	Livery	Status
42201	69-656	10 Jan 1969	Aurizon	DC2205	Aurizon Yellow	Operational
42202	69-657	4 Mar 1969	Aurizon	42202	Northern Rivers Railroad Blue/Orange/Yellow	Stored Rothbury
42203	69-658	27 Mar 1969	Watco Australia	HL203	Watco Black & Yellow	Operational
42204	69-659	23 Apr 1969	Aurizon	DC2206	Aurizon Yellow	Scrapped at Casino, 2016
42205	69-660	7 May 1969	Apex Industrial	2201	ARG Orange & Black	Scrapped December 2015 Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam[18]
42206	69-661	20 May 1969	Aurizon	42206	Northern Rivers Railroad Blue/Orange/Yellow	Stored Rothbury
42207	69-662	30 May 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	2207	ARG Orange & Black	Operational
42208	69-663	9 Jun 1969	Aurizon	DC2208	Aurizon Yellow	Stored Forrestfield
42209	69-664	23 Jun 1969	Aurizon	42209	FreightCorp Blue	Scrapped at Picton, July 2015
42210	69-665	23 Jun 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	2210	ARG Orange & Black	Operational
42211	69-666	4 Aug 1969	Apex Industrial	42211	FreightCorp Blue	Scrapped December 2015 Durban, South Africa[18]
42212	69-667	18 Aug 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	2212	ARG Orange & Black	Operational
42213	69-668	5 Sep 1969	Aurizon	2202	ARG Orange & Black	Stored Rothbury
42214	69-669	24 Sep 1969	Apex Industrial	2203	ARG Orange & Black	Scrapped Aug 2020 Dĩ An Train Joint stock company[18]
42215	69-670	10 Oct 1969	Aurizon	DC2213	Aurizon Yellow	Stored Forrestfield
42216	69-671	28 Oct 1969	Southern Shorthaul Railroad	2204	ARG Orange & Black	Stored cootamundra
42217	69-672	11 Nov 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	2214	ARG Orange & Black	Operational
42218	69-673	1 Dec 1969	Apex Industrial	DC2215	ARG Orange & Black (formerly wore Bicentennial livery)	Scrapped December 2015 Durban, South Africa[18]
42219	69-674	16 Dec 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	2216	ARG Orange & Black	Operational
42220	70-675	21 Jan 1970	Watco Australia	FL220	Watco Black & Yellow	Operational

References

1. "The 422 class locomotives of NSW" Railway Digest February 2000 page 42
2. "Locomotives and Traffic Victorian Standard Gauge" Railway Digest March 1990 page 104
3. "80 Class Return to the NSW North Coast on National Rail Freights" Railway Digest August 1995 page 14
4. "Locomotives and Traffic 422s to Brisbane" Railway Digest October 1996 page 31
5. "Locomotives and Traffic Motive Power" Railway Digest September 1997 page 33
6. NSWGR 422/22/FL/HL Class Locomotive Auscision Models
7. "Riding the Outback Express" Railway Digest March 2000 page 22
8. "FreightCorp 422s Sold to Private Operator" Railway Digest June 2000 page 14
9. 422 Class Railpage
10. 22 Class Railpage
11. "Qld Rail buys into freight market" The Age 14 February 2006
12. Operations Genesee & Wyoming Australia
13. 422 Class Vicsig
14. 22 Class Vicsig
15. Aurizon Locomotive Data Sheet 422/22/DC Class Locomotives for Africa
16. "Australia Wide Fleet List 2014" Motive Power issue 96 November 2014 pages 64-67
17. "Motive Power Roundup" Motive Power issue 97 January 2015 page 108
18. "Australian Locomotive Expatriates" Motive Power issue 107 September 2016 page 48
19. "Watco Australia" Motive Power issue 108 November 2016 page 28
20. Transfer of ownership of locomotives FL220 & HL203 Australian Rail Track Corporation 14 November 2016

Further reading

• New South Wales Rail System Locomotives. Sydney: Archives Section, State Rail Authority of New South Wales. 1984.
• A Guide to Australian Locomotion 2009 Edition Published by Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW)

External links

Media related to New South Wales 422 class locomotives at Wikimedia Commons