Railways and Tramways of Australia

Mainline diesel power

 

Victorian Railways took delivery of its first mainline diesel-electric locomotive on 15 July 1952.

 

The B Class locomotives were built by Clyde Engineering in Sydney. A total of 26 were in service by early 1954. Mechanically, they were similar to the earlier Commonwealth Railways GM Class diesels, with 1500 horsepower (1119 kW) available for traction.

 

There were two important differences between the B Class and the GM Class. The B Class featured a Co-Co wheel arrangement, meaning that each bogie had three powered axles, and the locomotive had six traction motors instead of four. This wheel arrangement soon became standard for mainline locomotives but was new at the time. The other key difference was that the B Class were dual-cab locomotives whereas the GM Class had only one cab. The B Class was unusual in having a streamlined nose at each end.

 

Class leader B60 underwent trials in the Sydney area and then worked under its own power from Sydney to Melbourne. A ceremony was held at Melbourne’s Spencer Street station on 15 July 1952 and B60 was named Harold Clapp after the former Victorian Railways Chairman of Commissioners. It then operated a demonstration run with a six-car train to Seymour and return.

 

The arrival of the B Class brought the withdrawal of many steam locomotives and the path towards dieselisation of the state’s railways was set. They operated passenger and freight services, including prestigious trains such as the Spirit of Progress. During the 1980s, 11 B Class locomotives were rebuilt with 2252-horsepower (1679-kW) engines and reclassified as the A Class. Thus, B60 became A60. A small number of A and B Class locomotives remain in service. A60 is preserved by the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre.

 

The B Class introduced mainline diesel motive power to Victoria.

 

Bibliography

PL Bermingham, The ML2 story: the history of the Victorian Railways’ famous B Class diesel-electric locomotive, Railway Traction Research Group, Bacchus Marsh, 1982.

‘Diesel-electrics – another milestone in Victorian railway history’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 179, September 1952, p 105.

D Jehan, Clyde: a history of Clyde Engineering engineers and manufacturers: the diesel era: 1948-2000, Eveleigh Press, Sydney, 2024.

J Scott, Power to the rails: a history of Victoria’s diesel and electric locomotives, self-published, 2011.

‘Victorian Railways B Class diesel-electric seventieth anniversary’, Newsrail, vol. 50, no. 7, July 2022, pp 224–5.

‘V.R. buys beauty and brawn in dual D - E power’, Railway Transportation, vol. 1, no. 11, August 1952, pp 25–31.