The New South Wales 85 class were a class of 10 electric locomotives built by

Comeng Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Common ...

, Granville between May 1979 and July 1980 for the

Public Transport Commission The Public Transport Commission (PTC) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for the provision of rail, bus and ferry services in New South Wales, Australia from October 1972 until June 1980. Upon dissolution, respons ...

.NSW 85 Class Electric Locomotive 8501
Sydney Electric Train Society When introduced they were the most powerful locomotives in Australia with a rating of 2,880 kW. Based at Lithgow depot they were purchased principally to haul coal trains over the

Blue Mountains line The Blue Mountains Line (BMT) is an intercity rail service serving the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The line travels west from Sydney to the major town of Katoomba and on to Mount Victoria, Lithgow and Bathurst. M ...

. They also hauled other freight trains and on occasions passenger services including the ''

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism-oriented 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 – ...

''. Following the Illawarra line being electrified in 1986, 85s began to operate coal trains from Lithgow through to

Port Kembla A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

. They also occasionally hauled coal services from

Glenlee Colliery Glenlee railway station was a railway station on the Main Southern line, serving Glenlee estate within the suburb of Menangle Park in Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of A ...

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, New Zealand, Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the ...

to Port Kembla and

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 ...

. They did not operate on the Main North line although in 1993 all were hauled to

Taree Taree () is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. It and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then it has grown to a population of 26,381, and commands a significant agricultural district. Situ ...

for repainting at Landsdowne Engineering. A combination of

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

electing to use diesel locomotives on electrified lines and a move to an open access model in New South Wales resulting in electric traction being priced out of the market saw the need for electric traction drop. In April 1998, the 85 class were withdrawn and stored at Lithgow. In July 2000,

FreightCorp FreightCorp, formally Freight Rail, was a railway operator owned by the Government of New South Wales. It was responsible for intrastate and some interstate Rail freight transport, railway cargo handling from its foundation in January 1989 unti ...

moved three of the class to

Werris Creek Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line to Armidale and Moree. At the 2011 census, Werris Creek had a ...

. Two were sold for preservation, 8501 to the

Sydney Electric Train Society The Sydney Electric Train Society is a railway preservation society in Sydney, Australia. It specialises in NSW electric traction and particularly NSW electric locomotives. History The Sydney Electric Train Society (SETS) was established in July ...

and 8507 to the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum.85 Class
Vicsig The remainder were sold in 2003 to Silverton Rail and scrapped at

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

References

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Co-Co locomotives Commonwealth Engineering locomotives Electric locomotives of New South Wales Railway locomotives introduced in 1979 Standard-gauge locomotives of Australia 1500 V DC locomotives