Railways and Tramways of Australia

Super powerful, super fast, super sleek

 

Diesel-electric locomotive 42201 officially entered service on 25 January 1969.

 

Built by Clyde Engineering, the 422 Class were at the time the most powerful diesel units in service in New South Wales. The EMD 16-cylinder 645E engines provided 2000 horsepower (1491 kW) available for traction. Their maximum speed of 77 miles per hour (124 km/h) made them suitable for express passenger and express freight service. All 20 members of the class were in service by January 1970.

 

The design of the 422 Class featured a semi-streamlined twin-cab full-width carbody: a flat-fronted boxcab at each end. They were the first diesel locomotives in Australia with this layout.

 

Considered prestigious units, the 422 Class units were frequently allocated to Sydney–Melbourne express trains the Southern Aurora, Spirit of Progress and Intercapital Daylight. They also worked numerous freight services over the Main Southern and Illawarra lines, particularly express freight trains between Sydney and Albury.

 

Later in their working lives the 422s were assigned to a range of other duties, including freight and passenger service on the Canberra Line and the Griffith locomotive-hauled passenger train. Although they were generally rare on northern or western lines, they later began to operate to these areas. Most of the 422 Class were withdrawn from service during the late 1990s and all were eventually sold to private operators. They now have different classifications, but some continue in operation, well beyond a half century in service.

 

Class leader 42201 was sold to the Australian Southern Railroad in May 2000 and renumbered DC2205. It has been stored for a number of years at Forrestfield in Perth.

 

Although the glory days are behind them, back in 1969 the 422s were super engines.

​

Bibliography

Modern locomotives in service on New South Wales Railways, rev. edn, Public Transport Commission of New South Wales, Sydney, 1976.

M Morahan, Diesel and electric locomotives of the NSWGR, vol. 2, New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, Sydney, 1998.

M Morahan, & Merchant, R, Diesel and electric locomotives of the NSWGR, vol. 3, New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, Sydney, 2000.

Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection: Department of Railways; NRS-15245-1-1-422 Class, Locomotive stock 422 Class diesel

     electric locomotives.

Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection: Department of Railways; NRS-15260-1-13-83, Records of locomotive officers’ conferences,

     February 1969.

R Renton, ‘Locomotive profile: the NSWGR 422 Class’, Motive Power, no. 114, November/December 2017, pp 31–50.

‘The boxcab design turns 40: the 422 Class of New South Wales’, Motive Power, no. 65, August/September 2009, pp 50–5.

‘Twin-cab design for NSWGR’s most powerful diesels’, Railway Transportation, vol. 18, no. 9, September 1969, pp 24–6, 34.