The 45 class (later the 71 class) was a class of mainline electric locomotive built in-house in 1952 by the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Chullora Railway Workshops Chullora Railway Workshops were a major workshops for the repair and heavy maintenance of locomotives and rolling stock for the New South Wales Government Railways. It was built on site at Chullora over 485 acres adjoining the main Sydney marshal ...

. With only a single locomotive in the class, 4501 was renumbered 7100 in October 1961, which freed up the number range for the 45-class diesel locomotives.

Construction

The sole member of the class was designed by the New South Wales Department of Railways and was built at their

using components supplied by

Commonwealth Engineering Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engi ...

. It was completed in June 1952 and numbered 4501.

Operation

4501 had a one-hour power rating of with a total weight of . Its maximum speed was It had a driving compartment at each end of its very box-shaped body. Its colour scheme being bottle green, with chrome lining, it became affectionately known as the ''Green Beetle''. Its purpose was to provide experience of operating powerful electric locomotives prior to the arrival of the 46 class locomotives which had been ordered from England for use on the electrified Main Western line to Bowenfels. Once the electrification project had reached Penrith in October 1955, 4501 had its first opportunity to haul passenger trains. Six months later, when the first 46-class arrived, the locomotive became a regular assistant locomotive for steam powered trains on the Main North line between

North Strathfield North Strathfield is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Strathfield is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada B ...

and Hornsby. In 1957, it was transferred to the

Flemington Maintenance Depot The Flemington Maintenance Depot is the largest Sydney Trains depot, located in the western Sydney suburb of Lidcombe, but named after Flemington further east. The depot opened in 1927 and was one of four electric train depots built under the ...

where it was employed as a shunter. At the time, Flemington was the base for all locomotive hauled air-conditioned carriages. In October 1961, it was re-numbered 7100. In October 1967, it received a major overhaul where several tonnes of additional ballast was added. Main-line safeworking equipment was provided to allow it to haul coal trains over the newly electrified

Main South Main South (or South Main) is a neighborhood in southern Worcester, Massachusetts. The area's eponymous feature is Main Street, the central roadway of the city. Main South experienced rapid economic development from the 1890s until the 1950s. H ...

from Glenlee to

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

Demise

Failures dogged the veteran locomotive and it was withdrawn in June 1974. Following an extended period of storage, it was placed at the

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks. Transport He ...

(now NSW Rail Museum) moved to

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both ...

. In April 2009, it was relocated to the former

Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot (NSW depot number 2) was a large locomotive depot consisting of two roundhouse buildings and associated facilities constructed by the New South Wales Government Railways adjacent to the marshalling yard on the Main ...

. It is now on

Transport Asset Holding Entity Transport Asset Holding Entity of New South Wales (TAHE) is a state-owned corporation of the New South Wales Government in New South Wales, Australia, established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was converted and renamed fr ...

's heritage list.

Construction

Operation

Demise

References

Further reading