The R Class are diesel locomotives built by English Electric, Rocklea for the Western Australian Government Railways in 1968. They were followed by the revised RA class.
Description The R class were a hood type general purpose diesel-electric locomotive. They were similar to the Queensland Railways 1300 class. All equipment, except traction motors, were interchangeable with the standard gauge K class. The bogies are an English Electric design with low weight transfer characteristics. They feature fully equalised primary spring gear, all traction motors in each bogie mounted with the nose-suspension facing inwards, traction thrust at near axle level and long pivot centres to reduce inter-bogie transfer. Adhesion loss at maximum tractive effort is limited to 4.5 per cent allowing trailing load to be hauled up a 1 in 100 grade.Railway Transportation, April 1968, 'Low weight transfer bogie is feature of new WAGR diesels'
History In 1968 the Western Australian Government Railways took delivery of five narrow gauge versions of the K class for use on bauxite traffic, the last three being fitted with of ballast to improve their tractive effort. All were fitted with dynamic brakes.R Class (WA, diesel) Railpage
Fleet list
Serial number Entered service Road number Last owner StatusA.16612 February 1968R1901WestrailScrapped, Midland Workshops (October 1992)A.16715 March 1968R1902GreentrainsScrapped, Bellevue (28 May 2016)A.1712 May 1968R1903WestrailScrapped, Midland Workshops (October 1992)A.17314 June 1968R1904WestrailScrapped, Midland Workshops (October 1992)A.17426 June 1968R1905WestrailScrapped, Midland Workshops (October 1992)
References
Railway Transportation, April 1968