The BHP Whyalla DE class are a class of diesel locomotives built by

Clyde Engineering Clyde Engineering was an Australian manufacturer of locomotives, rolling stock, and other industrial products. It was founded in September 1898 by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen buying the Granville factory of timber merchants Huds ...

, Granville for

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 ...

between 1956 and 1965.

History

In 1956,

purchased two

Electro-Motive Diesel Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its s ...

G8 locomotives from

for use at its narrow gauge

Iron Knob Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its pro ...

iron-ore quarry. In 1956, the first of four larger Electro-Motive Diesel G12 locomotives was delivered from Clyde Engineering for use on the narrow gauge

BHP Whyalla Tramway The BHP Whyalla Tramway is a gauge heavy-haul railway on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It runs from haematite mines at Iron Monarch, Iron Baron and Iron Duke in the Middleback Range, about west of Whyalla, to company steelworks ...

, a fifth was delivered in June 1961. Following the construction of the 39.5 kilometre Coffin Bay Tramway standard gauge line between Proper Bay and Coffin Bay on the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

, two standard gauge G12s were purchased in 1965. Following the quarry railway being closed in 1968, the G8s were both transferred to the standard gauge railway. Between 1993 and 1995, six were remanufactured by Morrison-Knudsen Australia, 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 i ...

factory, receiving new cabs. In 2003, the

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 ...

became part of OneSteel and the rail operations transferred to

Australian Railroad Group Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The mai ...

. The DEs were renumbered as the 1250 and 1300 classes. With the split up of Australian Railroad Group in 2006, the remaining five DE class transferred to Genesee & Wyoming Australia. During the 1990s remanufacturing program, DE02 had been stripped as a source of parts. In 2005-2006 it was rebuilt at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.SCT Logistics SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. History SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tra ...

for use in

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 ...

. As it was very similar to the

Victorian Railways T class The T class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Victorian Railways between 1955 and 1968. History In July 1954, the Victorian Railways placed an order with Clyde Engineering for 25 (later extended ...

, it was renumbered T414.T Class (T414)
Railpage

Status table

References

{{Reflist

External links

Rail Gallery
BHP Billiton diesel locomotives Bo-Bo locomotives Clyde Engineering locomotives Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia Railway locomotives introduced in 1956 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia