The D/DA 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 the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways 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 respon ...

in 1971-1972.

History

Five D class were ordered by the

to haul bauxite services. These were followed by seven DA class locomotives. These differed in not having

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 resisto ...

and were 12 tonnes lighter. In August 1998, D1564-65 were sold to

Tranz Rail Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main Rail transport in New Zealand, rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand ...

and rebuilt with new cabs at

Hutt Workshops The Hutt Railway Workshops is a major railway engineering facility in the Lower Hutt suburb of Gracefield in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island. It is state-owned enterprise KiwiRail's only workshops, and was opened in 1930. ...

before being sent to

TasRail TasRail (legal name Tasmanian Railway Pty Limited) is a Tasmanian Government state-owned enterprise that has operated the Rail transport in Tasmania, mainline railways in Tasmania since September 2009. It operates only freight services. Histo ...

in June 2001 entering service as 2020-21. The new cabs resembled the cab that was fitted to DXR8007 at the time. In September 1998, D1563 was exported to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where it would be overhauled and operated by the

Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (British company name: Antofagasta (Chili) & Bolivia Railway or FCAB for short) is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest rail ...

. The remaining nine locomotives were included in the sale of

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways 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 respon ...

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 ...

in October 2000. When this was split in June 2006, DA 1577 was transferred to Genesee & Wyoming Australia with the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n business with the other eight passed to QR National with the

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n operations.DAZ Class
Railpage D1562 and DAZ1902-06 were exported to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in January 2015 and are now owned by APEX Industrial.

TasRail D class

The two D class locomotives purchased by

in 1998 were rebuilt at

, as a cheaper alternative to buying new locomotives. Tranz Rail rebuilt the two locomotives before transferring them to ATN Tasrail of which they were a shareholder. The locomotives were rebuilt with a new design of universal cab with a shorter low hood and more angular appearance (the same cab style used on Tranz Rail's DXR 8007 first cab rebuild). The two locos were repainted into the Wisconsin Central Maroon livery, and were renumbered in the 202X series from the 156X series as they were in

. The two locomotives arrived at Bell Bay on 15 June 2001. Because they lacked traction motors when the locos were rebuilt, surplus English Electric EE548 traction motors were fitted to the locos at East Tamar Workshops. The two locos entered service a few months after arrival. Following a large number of traction motor failures, the traction motors were replaced by second hand GM motors in 2009.

Withdrawals and disposal

With the introduction of the TR class, both were withdrawn in mid-2014. Both were stored at East Tamar Workshops and sold to

Watco Australia Watco Australia is a rail haulage operator that was formed in 2010 to haul grain for the CBH Group in Western Australia. In 2019, it commenced operating in Queensland under a contract with GrainCorp. It is a subsidiary of Watco. History In 200 ...

in 2017 for use on infrastructure trains. D 2020 was shipped from

Burnie Burnie ( ; Aboriginal Tasmanians#North, pirinilaplu/palawa kani: ''Pataway'') is a port city located on the North West Tasmania, north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the fourth largest city on the island, located approximately north ...

on 5 May 2017 on Toll ship called the ''Victorian Reliance'', while 2021 was shipped on 13 May on Toll ship named the ''Tasmanian Achiever''. Both locomotives were rebuilt at Bendigo Workshops,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, and shipped to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in January 2018. They are currently in service under their original WAGR numbers, albeit classed DR.

Class list (D)

Class list (DA)

References

External links

History of Western Australian Railways & Stations gallery
{{Railway Vehicles in Tasmania, state=collapsed Aurizon diesel locomotives Clyde Engineering locomotives Co-Co locomotives Diesel locomotives of Western Australia Railway locomotives introduced in 1971 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel–electric locomotives of Australia