The F Class are a class of diesel locomotive shunters built by
Dick Kerr Works for the
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...
between 1951 and 1953. They are similar to the
British Rail Class 11
The British Rail Class 11 was applied to a batch of diesel shunting locomotives built from April 1945 to December 1952, based on a similar earlier batch built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) between 1934 and 1936.
Overview ...
and
NS Class 600
The NS Class 600 were a class of 65 shunting locomotives built by English Electric in England between 1950–1957 for Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). The first 10 were built at Dick, Kerr & Co, Preston and the remaining 55 at Vulcan Foundry, Newt ...
shunting locomotives also 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 ...
during this period, but modified for use on the VR's 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) broad gauge (also known as
Irish Gauge
Railways with a track gauge of fall within the category of broad gauge railways. , they were extant in Australia, Brazil and Ireland.
History
600 BC
:The Diolkos (Δίολκος) across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece – a grooved pave ...
).
History
The F Class were ordered by the
Victorian Railways
The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...
as part of
Operation Phoenix, a
£80 million program to rebuild a network badly run down by years of
Depression-era underinvestment and
wartime overutilisation.
The Victorian Railways purchased ten 0-6-0DE diesel shunting locomotives in 1951 from
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 ...
. The locomotives were built at EE's
Preston workshops in the United Kingdom, and entered service from October 1951 onwards. The design is similar to that of the standard-gauge
British Rail Class 11
The British Rail Class 11 was applied to a batch of diesel shunting locomotives built from April 1945 to December 1952, based on a similar earlier batch built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) between 1934 and 1936.
Overview ...
and
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...
600 class locomotives, which were also being built by EE at this time.
As built the locomotives were originally numbered in the 300-series as F310-319, following on from the last of the
S class diesel locomotives, S309, which entered service in February 1958, seven years after the arrival of the first F class locomotives. However, VR then placed a second order for another eight S class locomotives for use on the new
North East standard gauge line
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
which were delivered starting in November 1960. In order to vacate the 300-series numbers for the new mainline diesels, all F class locomotives were renumbered into the 200-series on in late May 1958 as F201-211. Unlike their British and Dutch counterparts, the F class locomotives were also later fitted with sideplates covering the side rods and wheel cranks. This modification was made to prevent staff from getting tangled up in the rods and cranks.
Six identical units were purchased by the
State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1952. The SEC later sold all six units to VR; the first, SEC3 in 1956, three more – SEC4, 5 and 6 – in 1959, and the remaining two, the former SEC1 and SEC2, in May 1971.
[F class diesel electric locomotives]
Mark Bau's VR Website These locomotives received numbers in the 21x-series as F212-216 on entry to VR service. The first sold, F211 (formerly SEC3) received its 200-series number on entry to VR service in 1956, some two years before the ten built for VR were similarly treated.
Withdrawal
Withdrawal of the F class locomotives began in October 1979 with the withdrawal of F214. The remaining locomotives with withdrawn between November 1979 and July 1987, when the last three locomotives, F202, F208, and F216, were taken out of service. Following withdrawal, the locomotives appear to have been placed in storage although most were later scrapped. Only one locomotive was broken up in the same year it was withdrawn; F215 was withdrawn in April 1983 and scrapped later that year.
Preservation
Six of the sixteen F class locomotives were purchased from VR or donated for preservation in the early 1980s. All except F212 are owned by
VicTrack
VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Government of Victoria, Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the ...
and allocated to various preservation groups:
* F202, formerly F311, is allocated to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre until deemed surplus 2017. It was used by SRHC as a shunting locomotive around their depot. It has been more recently reallocated to 707 Operations and is under restoration.
* F204, formerly F313, is in storage at
707 Operations
707 Operations is a railway preservation group based in Melbourne, Australia. The volunteer organisation was established in 1980 to restore R class locomotive R707. The company has its own section of the Newport Workshops that is used for stori ...
' operational base at
Newport Workshops
The Newport Railway Workshops is a facility in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, Victoria, Newport, Australia, that builds, maintains and refurbishes Rolling stock, railway rollingstock. It is located between the Williamstown railway line, Willia ...
, as a source of spare parts.
* F208, formerly F317, was known unofficially as the ''Dynon Donk''. It is currently operated by
707 Operations
707 Operations is a railway preservation group based in Melbourne, Australia. The volunteer organisation was established in 1980 to restore R class locomotive R707. The company has its own section of the Newport Workshops that is used for stori ...
and they have renumbered the engine back to F317. It is currently preserved-operational and has been restored to a Red and Yellow livery.
* F211, formerly SEC3, is statically displayed at the
Newport Railway Museum
The Newport Railway Museum is located on Champion Road, Newport, Victoria, near the North Williamstown station.
History
The museum opened on 10 November 1962, after the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) Victorian Division was allocat ...
. It was informally known as ''Little Trimmer''.
* F212, formerly SEC4, was withdrawn in November 1986 and purchased by the
Victorian Goldfields Railway
The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine.
History
The original line was opened on 16 June 1884, open ...
It is preserved-operational.
* F216, formerly SEC2, is statically displayed at the
Newport Railway Museum
The Newport Railway Museum is located on Champion Road, Newport, Victoria, near the North Williamstown station.
History
The museum opened on 10 November 1962, after the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) Victorian Division was allocat ...
; but unlike F211, this engine has been restored to resemble its original SEC styling.
Locomotives
Models
In 1975,
Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is a British rail transport modelling, model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was pr ...
released a ready-to-run model for the Australian market based on the
British Rail Class 08
The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotive built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their ...
in a blue/yellow VR livery. The "V.R. 0-6-0 Shunter" used the Tri-ang body moulding and its inaccurate inside-frame chassis. Although resembling the F class, it was not marketed as such.
Australian model railway manufacturer TrainBuilder released a ready-to-run model of the F class for HO scale in 2011.
European model railway manufacturer Roco announced in early 2014 that it would be releasing a ready-to-run model of the F class, using its existing model of the NS 500/600 class locomotive as its basis.
Broad Gauge Models in Australia have also offered a sheet of etched brass parts for modellers to use in order to modify the NS 500/600 class locomotive to more closely represent the VR F class in the past. Following the announcement of the Roco model, BGM announced it would re-release the etches for modellers wanting to alter the Roco locomotive.
References
External links
{{VRLocos, state=collapsed
English Electric locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1951
F class
Broad gauge locomotives in Australia
Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia
C locomotives