The 46 class was a class of mainline electric locomotive built by

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

and its partner

Beyer, Peacock and Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...

in England for the New South Wales railways department.

History

The locomotives were built at Bowesfield Works,

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, with electrical equipment supplied by

from its

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and

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plants. Metropolitan-Vickers drew on experience gained from its earlier

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways class 76 and 77 electric locomotives, which were used on the Woodhead Line in England and later in the Netherlands. The locomotives were purchased as part of the electrification of the Main Western line over the Blue Mountains from Penrith to Bowenfels. They hauled passenger services from Sydney Central including from 1970 the ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – thus, like ...

'' and freight services from

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

and

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

yards. From January 1960 they also began to operate to

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

following the electrification of the Main Northern line. This was later extended to

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in June 1984. From 1968 they hauled coal services from Glenlee Colliery on the

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

and from January 1986 began to operate to

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following the

Illawarra line The South Coast Railway (also known as the Illawarra Railway) is a commuter and goods railway line from Sydney to Wollongong and Bomaderry in New South Wales, Australia. Beginning at the Illawarra Junction, the line services the Illawarra a ...

being electrified.

Demise

Their build quality and durability was such that 38 remained on the books in 1990. By April 1993, a number had been withdrawn and partially stripped with 31 in service or under repair. Following a decision by

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

to use diesel locomotives on its services over the electrified network, the need for electric locomotives decreased. In December 1994, ten were sold for scrap. The remaining class members had been withdrawn by January 1996.

Performance

The 40 members of the 46 class were the most powerful locomotives in Australia for many years, with a one-hour rating of and ability to deliver more for short periods. They proved to be very reliable and were generally considered superior to the newer and more powerful Comeng 85 class and 86 class locomotives.

Motors and control gear

The 46 class featured six MV 272 traction motors fed current switched by electropneumatic power contactors. The MV 272 motor had six poles and was lap-wound. The driver's traction controls included the accelerating, reversing and regenerating handles. Nineteen starting and five field-weakening resistances were available with the traction motors connected in series, series-parallel and parallel (for a total of seventy-five manually selected power settings, e.g. OFF, starting resistors 1 to 19, all resistors cut out in 20, field-weakening resistors cut in from 21 to 25). Series-parallel comprised two parallel circuits, each of three motors in series, whereas parallel is three parallel circuits of two motors in series. The removable reversing handle controlled the direction of travel and motor connection. Parallel was available only in the forward direction.

Accidents

The 46 class locomotives were involved in a number of serious incidents: *On 16 July 1965, a 44-vehicle freight train hauled by 4620 ran away for , careering downhill at speeds of up to , before a spectacular derailment at

Wentworth Falls Wentworth Falls (Postcodes in Australia, postcode: 2782) is a town in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, situated approximately west of the Sydney central business district, and about east of Katoo ...

in the Blue Mountains. Investigations revealed that whilst the air brake train pipe was connected from the locomotive to the train, the associated isolating cock was left closed. This rendered the train brakes inoperative. *On 16 January 1976, a freight train hauled by 4623 collided with the rear of a stationary double deck interurban electric multiple unit train at Glenbrook, killing one passenger. This accident was caused by a wrong-side signal failure. The automatic signal behind the EMU displayed "caution" when it should have been at "danger", thereby admitting the following goods train into the occupied signal section. *On 18 January 1977, 4620 was damaged in the

Granville rail disaster The Granville rail/train disaster occurred on Tuesday 18 January 1977 at Granville, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, when a crowded commuter train derailed, running into the supports of a road bridge that collapsed onto ...

, which claimed 83 lives. The locomotive was withdrawn and later scrapped.

Preservation

Five locomotives (and one cab) were saved for preservation: