The NJ class are a class of diesel locomotive built in 1971 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 the

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975. O ...

for use on the

Central Australia Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...

History

In 1969,

ordered six single-cab NJ class locomotives from

for use on the narrow gauge

Central Australian Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...

between Marree and

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

. They hauled freight trains as well as ''

The Ghan ''The Ghan'' is an experiential tourism oriented passenger train service that operates between the northern and southern coasts of Australia, through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor. O ...

'' passenger train. Built at Clyde Engineering's Granville factory, they featured many components from the company's new Kelso factory. Their cab was similar to that of the New South Wales 422 class that had recently been built. In July 1975, all were included in the transfer of Commonwealth Railways to Australian National. Following the closure of the Central Australian Railway in December 1980 and their unsuitability for conversion to standard gauge they were transferred by Australian National to the

Eyre Peninsula Railway The Eyre Peninsula Railway is a gauge railway on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. Radiating out from the ports at Port Lincoln and Thevenard, it is isolated from the rest of the South Australian railway network. Peaking at 777 kilometr ...

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 ...

. After a few teething problems associated with operating at higher speeds, the class settled down and were employed hauling grain and gypsum services. All six were sold with Australian National's South Australian operations to Australian Southern Railroad in August 1997 and renumbered as the 1600 class. Some were 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 ...

to operate services in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. With the splitting up of Australian Railroad Group, two passed to

Aurizon Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated o ...

in February 2006 and four to

Genesee & Wyoming Australia One Rail Australia is an Australian rail freight operator company. Founded by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and later renamed Genesee & Wyoming Australia, it was renamed One Rail Australia in February 2020 aft ...

in June 2006. In January 2015, the two Aurizon units were exported to

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, South Africa.West Australian Rails
Jim Bisdee In early 2019, 1604 (formerly NJ 4) was sent for scrap after being lifted onto a low-loader and hauled to Adelaide by road. The remaining locomotives (1601, 1603 and 1606) are currently operating at Thevenard on the Gypsum workings. 1603 also led the last GWA grain train to Cummins on 31 May 2019.

Names

*NJ1 was named after prime minister

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...

, a former locomotive driver from Bathurst, near Kelso where many of the locomotives' components were manufactured. As of February 2020, the locomotive now unofficially carries the name 'Thevenard' on the side of the locomotive cab, possibly reflecting the change to gypsum only traffic for the Port Lincoln division motive power.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

{{AusLocos, state=collapsed Aurizon diesel locomotives Clyde Engineering locomotives Co-Co locomotives Commonwealth Railways diesel locomotives Diesel locomotives of Western Australia Railway locomotives introduced in 1971 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia