Re: What happened to the 73 class locos.

[nswsrca@ozemail.com.au (Peter Neve)]

On Wed, 24 Dec 1997 21:02:26 +1100, Robert Harris
<bob@fastlink.com.au> wrote:

>I was watching 7301 at Meeks road the other day whilst waiting for a
>signal to clear, and it prompted me to ask: "What happened to all of the
>73 class locos?"
>
>I know that,
>7301 at Meeks road.
>The RTM has 7308.
>3801 ltd has 7344 plus one other.
>Lithgow has one and Minildra group has some.
>
>rgds
>
>Bob
>
G'day.

The current position re 73 class is as follows:

In service with Strate Rail - Countrylink:  7301 (XPT Depot shunter)
In service with FreightCorp - 7322 & 7334.   Both allocated to Lithgow
Maintenance Centre and used (occasionally!) as depiot shunters.

Preserved:
7306	at Goulburn Roundhouse, privately owned.
7307	at East Greta - Hunter Valley Training Company.
7308	at RTM Thirlmere, privately owned.
7315, 7319, 7320, 7324   at ARHS Canberra Railway Museum.    7320 &
7324 are actually owned by William Edmund P/L and were obtained with
the intention of commencing a tourist operartion on the former
Captain's Flat branch.   7320 is now on loan to the ARHS ACT and is
occasionally used to double with, or replace, 7319, on Michelago
Tourist Railway operrations.)
7321   at Goulburn Roundhouse, privately owned.
7333 & 7344   with 3801 Limited for The Cockatoo Run (7333 is
privately owned)
7350   at Rothbury Riot Railway & Museum, Branxton, Hunter Valley
Railway Trust.


Commercial Use, NSW:
7340   at Manildra for the Manildra Group.   (I think that the ex-49
class there does most of the shunting now!)
The Manildra Group also has two 73s stowed at Parkes depot, or at
least their remains!  These units, 7329 & 7335, had been given to Mid
State Rail & Pioneer Museum at Cowra (no, not the Lachlan Valley
Railway Society, a different group), but I understand that the
Manildra Group has since renegged on the deal, possibly owing to the
high price these units obtain when sold for canefields rebuilding).

Canefield Rebuilds:
The following units were purchased, usually through dealers or
scrappies, for rebuilding (and I mean rebuilding!) for 2ft or 610mm
gauge canefield operations ...

7304 7305 7309 7310 7313 7314 7317 7318 7325 7328 7330 7331 7332 7336
7337 7339 7341 7343 7346 7347 7348 7349.

At least ten of these have re-entered service in their new guise - the
others are still stored at various Mills awaiting rebuilds.

Trust the above answers your questions.


Pete.