Re: [Ausloco] ATN Ls & WAGR Ls

["Alan Thompson" <athomp@speedlink.com.au>]

Just a correction to the colour scheme of the L class as delivered. I worked
L251 on its load trial and it was light & bark blue with yellow lining from
the start. Also fitted with a oscillating headlight, does any one know if
they are still fitted?
Alan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Grahame John Ferguson" <grahamef@mail.mcmedia.com.au>
To: <Ausloco@egroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2000 9:21 AM
Subject: [Ausloco] ATN Ls & WAGR Ls


> On 16/6/00 I wrote:-
> >L251 + L270 with empty wheat wagons passed through Seymour at 1457 hrs
> southbound.
>
> >regards,
>
> >Grahame.
>
> I meant to add that L251 was the class leader built in October 1967 and I
> have a copy of 'Rail Transportation' of that year with it on the cover.
L251
> will soon reach its 33rd birthday.  The WAGR had 3000hp diesel locomotives
> 15 years before NSW.
>
> When L251 was built it was the most powerful diesel locomotive in
Australia
> at 3000hp(the NSW 46 class was the most powerful locomotive at 3780hp),
> until the C636 was built for either Mt Newman or Hamersley in 1968.
>
> To me the L class are still one of my favourites.  It goes to show how
solid
> simple by today's standards locomotive engineering, can endure.  There
must
> be a lesson in that somewhere for the railway mechanical engineer of
today.
> The L class are an Australian version of the US SD40.  The SD40s successor
> the SD40-2 became one the biggest sellers of all time in the USA.
>
> For your information it has a fuel tank of 14600 litres, weighs 137
tonnes,
> gear ratio 60:17, max speed 134km/h, pressurised engine compartment.
>
> It was the first to have a tubocharged EMD engine in Australia, the 645E3.
> It was also the first to have a main alternator, the AR-10.  The 2nd type
to
> have the D77 traction motors.  Variations of these have lived on in new
EMD
> locomotives built today.
>
> I am not sure whether it or 42201 introduced the Hi-Ad bogie.
>
> Their original colour scheme was a grey with a dark blue stripe with
yellow
> lining. The pilot beams were red with the loco number painted in yellow.
> The 2nd version colour was a pale blue background replacing the grey.
This
> was the best colour scheme of any locomotive I have seen.  The subsequent
> colour schemes were not worth the price of the kodachrome film I used.
>
> The L class also had a small spring loaded rod with a knob on the
reverser,
> that prevented the locomotive being thrown into reverse untintentionally.
>
> For a good many years they had alkaline batteries.
>
> They were not delivered with air-conditioning.
>
> It had 2 control stands, unlike VR locomotives.  In the early 80's
> turntables were installed at Forrestfield, Avon Yard, ?West Merriden and
> Kalgoorlie so that they could all run short end leading.
>
> Only the sound of their gasping single horn let an image of a great rugged
> machine down.
>
> All L class had a crome plated 'L' with a separate oval metal plate with
the
> loco's number fixed to the cab sides.  The WAGR J class also had this
> arrangement.
>
> As with all WAGR locomotives they did not have illuminated number boards.
>
> With their speed and power and good looks, they were equally at home with
> the Indian-Pacific, or in multiples of 3 on 90 wagon 9000 ton Iron Ore
> trains from Koolyanobbing to Kwinana.
>
> I'd rather see an L on the IP than an NR any day.  They would have no
> trouble hauling the IP at speed and on heavy grades.
>
> Basically L251 was a ground breaker in Australian diesel locomotive
> production, it alao looked like a locomotive and sure sounded like one!
They
> were with out a doubt- "the Best from the West!
>
> Who would have believed that I would see it again go through my town after
I
> had spent my youth chasing it and its sisters around WA, some 23 years
ago.
>
> Does anyone out there have any information to share, either memories or on
> the modifications instigated by ATN?
>
> regards,
>
> Grahame.
>
>
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> experiments.
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