Railways and Tramways of Australia

Big baby christened

 

A new locomotive was christened in Western Australia on 23 March 2015.

 

Western Australia’s Pilbara region hosts numerous mines, and massive tonnages of iron ore are transported to ports each year. Opening in 2015, Roy Hill (now Hancock Iron Ore) was the newest railway network in the Pilbara. It joined BHP, Fortescue Metals Group and Rio Tinto. The Roy Hill railway network consisted of 395 km of track. Its main line was 344 km in length and ran from the Roy Hill Mine to port facilities at Port Hedland, including four passing loops, each approximately 3.2 kilometres long. Roy Hill Mine was named after a nearby pastoral station.

 

Roy Hill’s track was capable of carrying axle loads up to 42.8 tonnes, the heaviest in the world. Trains at the Roy Hill Mine used a loading system controlled from the Remote Operations Centre (ROC) in Perth.

 

RHA001 was the first locomotive in the Roy Hill fleet. It was named ‘Ginny´ by Roy Hill Chair Gina Rinehart in a ceremony at Port Hedland. RHA001 was the class leader of 28 diesel-electric locomotives to commence operating with Roy Hill. They were built by General Electric at Erie, Pennsylvania, United States of America, and shipped to Port Hedland.

 

The RHA Class locomotives have 3281 kW traction power and weigh 197 tonnes. Barry Fitzgerald, Roy Hill Chief Executive Officer, described the new locomotives as, “the most technologically advanced heavy haul machines available.”

 

Construction of the Roy Hill railway was ongoing as the new locomotives were delivered.

Full-length iron ore trains commenced running on the line in November 2015.

 

The christening of the first RHA Class indicated its readiness for heavy iron ore haulage.

 

Bibliography

‘Roy Hill celebrates christening of first locomotive’, Railway Digest, vol. 53, no. 5, May 2015, p 6.

‘Roy Hill report’, Motive Power, no. 103, January 2016, p 20.

C Walters, A guide to Australasian locomotion, 2023 edn, Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division), Sydney, 2023.