Railways and Tramways of Australia

Mainline electric

 

Electric locomotive 4501 operated its first trial on 19 June 1952.

 

Sydney suburban railways began to be electrified from 1926, but it was not until 1952 that an electric locomotive was introduced to service. Although most new locomotives delivered in the transition years from 1951 to 1973 were diesels, the addition of electric locomotives added another form of motive power to the locomotive fleet. 4501 was the first mainline electric locomotive in Australia.

 

4501 was built at Chullora Workshops in Sydney, with contractors supplying the electrical equipment and some mechanical parts. It was developed as a prototype and was the only unit in its class. Rated at 2700 horsepower (2013 kW), specifications were issued that it be able to substitute for a 57 or 58 Class steam locomotive then in use.

 

The first trial run for 4501 was from Chullora to Liverpool. Two weeks later it hauled a 400-ton freight train from North Strathfield to Hornsby in 30 minutes, which was 17 minutes less than the schedule for a freight train at the time.

 

Construction of an electric locomotive provided experimental usage prior to the widespread introduction of electric traction on the Blue Mountains Line, which was then being electrified. Orders had already been placed for further electric locomotives, and the opportunity was taken to use 4501 for driver training, general goods service and shunting within the Sydney metropolitan area.

 

4501 was re-numbered as 7100 in 1961, freeing the 45 Class number series for a new class of diesel-electric locomotives. After a series of failures, 7100 was withdrawn from service for the last time in early 1974. Its service life over, it was preserved, and is now stored near where it was built at the Chullora Tank Annexe.

 

4501/7100 paved the way for future mainline electric locomotives.

 

Bibliography

‘Diesel and electric notes’, New South Wales Digest, vol. 12, no. 8, December 1974, p 9.

‘New electric locomotive passes trials’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 June 1952, p 2.

‘NSWGR tests first electric locomotive on suburban run’, Railway Transportation, vol. 1, no. 10, July 1952, p 7

P Neve, ‘4501 – alias 7100’, The Railway News, vol. 19, no. 7, August-September 1967, p 7.

‘Pioneer electric loco is experimental prototype for overseas order’, Railway Transportation, vol. 1, no. 11, August 1952, pp 35–8.