Re: What happened to the 73 class locos.

[Jonathan Lau <jonlau@ozemail.com.au>]

Greetings,

I do recall seeing 7303 behind Port Kembla Loco about 3 or 4 years ago
in a sad and stripped state. It still there?

Regards,

Jon 

Peter Neve wrote:
> 
> 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.