The 442 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by AE Goodwin and Comeng, Auburn for the New South Wales Department of Railways between 1970 and 1973.

History

The 442 class were ordered and operated by the New South Wales Government Railways. They were the second generation of Alco units to be built, and were used on both main freight and passenger service in New South Wales. Since entering private ownership they have operated across Australia. They are identical to the South Australian Railways 700 class. They were nicknamed Jumbos, due to their 1971 delivery coinciding with that of Qantas' first Boeing 747s.

Construction The 442 class were built from 1971 to replace the 40 class locomotives dating from 1951, as they could not be economically rebuilt to modern standards. Twenty locomotives were initially ordered from AE Goodwin, the contract stipulating that the 40 class be accepted as a trade in, with some parts from the older units used for the new locomotives. The contract was later extended by 20 units.

The first locomotive was completed in October 1970 but was rejected due to rough riding concerns in testing, with five months passing before it was finally accepted after modifications to the bogie design.

After AE Goodwin was placed in administration it was sold to Comeng who completed the last six locomotives with a Mitsubishi alternator in lieu of a generator.

In service The 442 class operated mainline services across the state. In 1985, some (including 23-27, 29 & 30) were fitted with V/Line radios to allow them to operate services through to Melbourne."Victorian Standard Gauge Report" Railway Digest April 1985 page 105"Victorian Standard Gauge Report" Railway Digest July 1985 page 201"Victorian Standard Gauge Report" Railway Digest August 1985 page 237 This ceased in 1987 with those fitted being sent to Melbourne to have the equipment removed."Dynon Loco News" Railway Digest September 1987 page 287

By the end of their careers, all were based at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot and mainly operated on the North Coast and Main North lines.

Disposal Following the delivery of new 82 and 90 class locomotives most were withdrawn in 1994. In December 1994, nineteen were sold at auction:"State Rail's Locomotive Auction Results" Railway Digest January 1995 page 36

4 to Silverton Rail all returned to traffic,"Stop Press" Railway Digest December 1995 page 17 2 to Austrac Ready Power leased to BHP, Port Kembla"Austrac Ready Power Supplies First Leased Locomotives" Railway Digest July 1995 page 14 1 to Australian National with the intention of using as a source of spares to repair fire damaged 702 but the plan was cancelled and both scrapped 12 to Morrison Knudsen Australia who intended to rebuild these locomotives to haul roadrailer trains. It was planned to remove the Alco prime mover and generator, and replace it with a rebuilt EMD 645F 16 cylinder engine mated to an AR10 alternator. To allow this the locomotive frame would be cut in half and a new section 1.5 metres long welded into the middle to lengthen it, and the number 2 end cab would be blanked off, making the locomotive single ended. Preliminary work was carried out for the project before it was cancelled in mid 1995 with 10 of the locomotives scrapped at Morrison Knudsen’s Whyalla plant, but some parts were later used in the RL class project. Two were sold to Silverton Rail and entered service in 1998/99.Railway Digest August 1998 page 6

A locomotive shortage saw six reinstated by FreightCorp in late 1995."Rail Authorities Face Loco Shortage" Railway Digest December 1995 page 16 After being used as shunters in Sydney, the last were withdrawn in March 1998."442 Class" Railway Digest May 1998 page 28 One of these (44211) was earmarked for preservation and placed in the care of the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum.

Rebirth as JL and GL classes In preparation for the sale of FreightCorp, the remaining locomotives were sold to Great Northern Rail Services, Victoria in 2001. Five were overhauled and returned to service as the JL class. All were sold to Railfirst Asset Management, who contracted UGL Rail, Broadmeadow to remanufacture 12 units with refurbished General Electric C30-7A components recovered from withdrawn Conrail locomotives. They were reclassified as the GL class with all completed between June 2003 and October 2004.

This involved the locomotives being stripped to the bare chassis and remanufactured from the ground up, the only equipment retained being the bogies, main frames and fuel tanks. The original Alco 12-251C engines and AEI generators were replaced with fully overhauled GE 7FDL-12 engines and alternators. New cabs with desk-top controls and improved collision protection and bodies that retained a dual-cab configuration were fitted.GL Class Locomotive CFCL Australia The JLs have since resumed their original numbers with two sold to Southern Shorthaul Railroad.JL Class vicrailways442 Class Railpage442 Class Vicsig

The GLs have been leased to a variety of operators including Bowmans Rail, Southern Shorthaul Railroad, Watco Australia, SCT Logistics, Crawford's Freightlines, GrainCorp, Pacific National, Aurizon and Qube Logistics. All Repainted RFAM silver and blue livery.

Fleet status Key:In ServiceStoredPreservedConvertedUnder OverhaulScrapped

Some of the locomotives were named after race horses, as shown in the Name column. Original No Renumbered Name Serial No Completed Current / Last Owner Livery Status 44201 GL105 Let’s Elope G-6045-01 Dec 70 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44202 442s4 -> 44202 G-6045-02 Apr 71 Qube Logistics Qube silver & yellow Operational 44203 442s3 G-6045-03 Apr 71 Qube Logistics Silverton yellow & blue Scrapped 44204 JL401 -> 44204 Paul Fitzgerald G-6045-04 May 71 Southern Shorthaul Railroad SSR yellow & black Operational 44205 G-6045-05 May 71 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44206 JL402 -> 44206 Col Parry G-6045-06 Jul 71 Southern Shorthaul Railroad SSR yellow & black Operational 44207 GL101 Think Big G-6045-07 Jul 71 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Stored 44208 JL403 -> 44208 Mark's Baby G-6045-08 Aug 71 Manildra Group Silver & Blue Operational 44209 JL404 -> 44209 Flour Power G-6045-09 Aug 71 Manildra Group Bomaderry Silver & Blue Operational 44210 G-6045-10 Sep 71 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44211 G-6045-11 Sep 71 New South Wales Rail Transport Museum Reverse Tuscan Preserved - Operational 44212 GL112 Jeune G-6045-12 Oct 71 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blueOperational 44213 G-6045-13 Oct 71 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44214 G-6045-14 Nov 71 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44215 GL110 Tawriffic G-6045-15 Dec 71 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44216 GL102 Sunline G-6045-16 May 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44217 G-6045-17 May 72 Southern Shorthaul Railroad Greentrains Green and yellow Operational 44218 GL106 Subzero G-6045-18 Jun 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Under Repair after an engine fire 44219 G-6045-19 Jun 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44220 442s1 >>> 44220 (3/11/2023) G-6045-20 Jun 72 Southern Shorthaul Railroad SRA Candy Operational 44221 G-6045-21 Jan 72 Australian National SRA Candy Scrapped 44222 GL108 Rain Lover G-6045-22 Mar 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44223 442s5 -> 44223 G-6045-23 Mar 72 Southern Shorthaul Railroad Greentrains green & yellow Operational 44224 G-6045-24 Mar 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44225 G-6045-25 Mar 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped44226442s6 -> 44226G-6045-26Jun 72Southern Shorthaul RailroadSRA Candy (inaccurate fonts)Preserved - Operational 44227 G-6045-27 Jul 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44228 GL103 Brew G-6045-28 Jul 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blueOperational 44229 BHP101GL109 Just a Dash G-6045-29 Jul 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44230 GL104 Jezabeel G-6045-30 Jul 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Under repair suffered an engine fire 44231 G-6045-31 Aug 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44232 JL406GL111 Galilee G-6045-32 Sep 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44233 BHP102GL107 Rogan Josh G-6045-33 Nov 72 Rail First Asset Management RFAM silver & blue Operational 44234 G-6045-34 Nov 72 Morrison Knudsen Australia SRA Candy Scrapped 44235 G-6045-35 Mar 73 Silverton Rail SRA Candy Scrapped 44236 G-6045-36 Sep 73 State Rail Authority SRA Candy Scrapped 44237 G-6045-37 Sep 73 Silverton Rail SRA Candy Scrapped 44238 G-6045-38 Sep 73 State Rail Authority SRA Candy Scrapped 44239 G-6045-39 Oct 73 State Rail Authority SRA Candy Scrapped 44240 G-6045-40 Oct 73 State Rail Authority FreightCorp blue Scrapped

References

External links