The R Class are diesel locomotives 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 the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...

in 1968. They were followed by the revised RA class.

Description

The R class were a hood type general purpose diesel-electric locomotive. They were similar to the

Queensland Railways 1300 class The 1300 class were a class of diesel locomotive built by English Electric, Rocklea for Queensland Rail between 1967 and 1972. They were later sold to AN Tasrail. History The 1300 class was an upgraded version of the 1270 class with more power ...

. All equipment, except traction motors, were interchangeable with the standard gauge K class. The bogies are an English Electric design with low weight transfer characteristics. They feature fully equalised primary spring gear, all traction motors in each bogie mounted with the nose-suspension facing inwards, traction thrust at near axle level and long pivot centres to reduce inter-bogie transfer. Adhesion loss at maximum tractive effort is limited to 4.5 per cent allowing trailing load to be hauled up a 1 in 100 grade.

History

In 1968 the

took delivery of five narrow gauge versions of the K class for use on bauxite traffic, the last three being fitted with of ballast to improve their tractive effort. All were fitted with

dynamic brakes Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a Electric generator, generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric locomotive, electric or diesel locomotive, diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed "Resistor#Adjustable resis ...

.R Class (WA, diesel)
Railpage

Class list

References

* * *Railway Transportation, April 1968 {{WAGR Locomotives, state=collapsed Co-Co locomotives English Electric locomotives Diesel locomotives of Western Australia Railway locomotives introduced in 1968 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia