The 80 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by

Comeng 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 ...

for the

Public Transport Commission The Public Transport Commission (PTC) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for the provision of rail, bus and ferry services in New South Wales, Australia from October 1972 until June 1980. Upon dissolution, responsib ...

between 1978 and 1983.

History

The 80 class were built by

Alco The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

's Australian licensee

as an evolution of the 442 class. The 80 class were the first locomotives in Australia to feature factory-fitted cab air-conditioning and

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

body panels and the first in New South Wales delivered without buffing plates. To reduce the need for repainting, the fibreglass panels were pre-coloured hence the class retained their original liveries for longer than had previously been the case."The 80 class locomotives of NSW" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia. Overview The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published in M ...

'' September 1999 page 32 An initial order of 30 was followed by an additional order for 20. The first order were delivered in Indian red livery while the second received the ''reverse'' livery with a yellow nose and Indian red wings. They were initially introduced on the

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

before being transferred to the western region for use between Lithgow and

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

. They quickly spread and regularly hauled freight and passenger services on all main lines. After being fitted with Australian National radios, 8034-45 commenced operating through to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

with Australian National ALs operating into New South Wales in 1990. Through working ceased in May 1991 when the

Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen The Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees (AFULE) is an Australian trade union representing railway workers. It was formerly a national union which largely merged into the Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union in 1992; however, ...

placed a ban on the 80 class in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Following the formation of

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

, all were reallocated to the national operator in July 1995. This saw their sphere of operation extended to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, albeit as trailing locomotives. Following National Rail taking delivery of the

NR class The NR class are a class of Australian diesel locomotive built by A Goninan & Co for National Rail between 1996 and 1998. They are currently operated by Pacific National. The C44aci model locomotives built by UGL Rail at Broadmeadow adopted ...

locomotives, the 80s began to return to

FreightCorp FreightCorp (formally the ''Freight Rail Corporation'') was a railway operator owned by the Government of New South Wales responsible for intrastate and some interstate rail cargo handling from its creation in January 1989 until it was privatis ...

in January 1997. As they were surplus to requirements, some were placed in store. By April 1997, 30 were in store. In September 1997, 8015 and 8039 were loaned to

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

as a trial on services at their

Port Kembla A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

steelworks. All were included in the sale of

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...

in February 2002. In March 2003, 24 of the class were sold to Silverton Rail joining 8043 that had been sold to them in 1999. Four (26, 37, 44 & 49) were returned to traffic as 80s1, 80s4, 80s2 & 80s6. All were included in the sale of the business to Coote Industrial and later

Qube Logistics Qube Holdings is a diversified logistics and infrastructure company in Australia. History In July 2006, following the takeover of Patrick Corporation by Toll Holdings, Chris Corrigan and some executives departed and teamed with Kaplan Funds Man ...

. A fifth (8030) was returned to service in 2010 while the other four resumed their original identities. A few of the others have been scrapped with the remainder in store at

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

and

Werris Creek Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi, New South Wales, Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line, New South ...

.80 Class
Vicsig

operate 4 mainly as shunters at Keswick, Broken Hill and Morandoo with 10 in store at

Chullora Chullora, a suburb in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. The ...

and Werris Creek.

History

Fleet status

References

Further reading