The 1300 class were a class of diesel locomotive built by

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

Rocklea Rocklea is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Rocklea had a population of 1,595 people. Geography Rocklea is located 9 kilometres south of the city. The west of the suburb is bordered by the Oxley Creek. The ...

for

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

between 1967 and 1972. They were later sold to

AN Tasrail AN Tasrail was an Australian railway operator that operated the Tasmanian rail network from March 1978 until November 2004. Originally a subsidiary of the Federal Government's Australian National, it was sold to Australian Transport Network (A ...

History

The 1300 class was an upgraded version of the 1270 class with more powerful engines and larger fuel tanks. The class was primarily used on the Blackwater and Moura coal lines and based at

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

.English Electric 1300 Class
Queensland's Railway Interest Group The class became surplus following electrification of the coal lines in 1986–1987. In 1988, the entire class was sold to

where they became the ZC class. They were renumbered consecutively, 1300 becoming ZC1 and 1344 becoming ZC45, although 12 units were only used as a source of spare parts.ZC Class
Rail Tasmania Most had very short working lives with just 13 remaining in service by 1995 and only six by 1997. Ten of the ZC class were sold to Morrison-Knudsen Australia in April 1994, with eight rebuilt with new cabs as the MKA class at its

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

factory. Two were operated on the

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 ...

Whyalla Steelworks The Whyalla Steelworks is a fully integrated steelworks and the only manufacturer of rail in Australia. Iron ore is mined in the Middleback Range to feed the steelworks, resulting in the distribution of finished steel products of over 90 different ...

network from February 1995, before being exported to Senegal. MKA1-4 saw service in Malaysia before returning to Australia. These along with the unused two were purchased by

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 2004 with MKA1-3 returning to Queensland and the others to Tasmania. By 2007, all six were in service in Tasmania renumbered in the 2130 series. Train on south line near hobart

With the privatisation of Australian National, AN Tasrail was sold to the

Australian Transport Network Australian Transport Network (ATN) was a freight railway operator in Australia that commenced operating in November 1997. The company operated narrow gauge trains in Tasmania and standard gauge trains in New South Wales and Victoria. It was form ...

, with the seven remaining ZCs becoming the 2140 class. Most stored units were scrapped and the last was withdrawn in 2004. In February 2004, Pacific National purchased Australian Transport Network, including four stored 2140 class locomotives. Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia purchased 2142 and 2143 for a proposed tourist service, they were later sold to Senegal. In September 2009, TasRail was sold back to the

Government of Tasmania The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invite ...

TasRail TasRail is the trading name of Tasmanian Railway Proprietary Limited, a Tasmanian Government state-owned enterprise that has operated the mainline railways in Tasmania since September 2009. It operates only freight services. History Establis ...

sold three of the remaining stored locos for scrap in 2012 and donated 2144 (formerly ZC19 and 1318) to Diesel Traction Tasmania, now known as Launceston & North East Railway, for preservation.ZC Class
Diesel Traction Tasmania ZC 19 finally entered full preservation on the 19th of May 2021 after being trucked to L&NER’s Lilydale yard. A week shy of ZC 19’s ten year anniversary of its donation by TasRail.

Fleet summary

References

{{QueenslandLocos, state=collapsed BHP Billiton diesel locomotives Co-Co locomotives Diesel locomotives of Queensland Diesel locomotives of Tasmania English Electric locomotives Queensland Rail locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1967 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia