TGR Y class

In the late 1950s, The Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR), after noticing the success of the 1952-vintage TGR X class main-line diesel-electric locomotives, were keen to add others of the type to their fleet.

A repeat order of 'X' class engines may have been considered, but was quickly discarded. After trying several manufacturers, they settled on English Electric (EE), the same company which had built the 'X' class engines. As a result, the plans EE submitted were quite similar to, and essentially a development of, the 'X' class, but slightly larger and more powerful.

When built, these engines were designated Y Class. Design-wise they are similar to the 'X' class - a long, hood unit with the cab at one end.

Construction started in the TGR Inveresk workshops in 1961, and three of the planned eight were completed relatively quickly. However, construction of the other six was a drawn-out affair, with the last not being delivered until 1972, by which time the design was obsolete.

Technical details

They are fitted with an EE 6SRKT in-line six turbocharged diesel engine (which was also fitted in the 'X' class locomotives), but producing 825 horsepower at 850 rpm as compared to the 'X' class 660 hp at 750 rpm. They have a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement and end-platforms, making them visually similar to the older 'X' class engines. It is easy to confuse the two classes from a distance.

Like all TGR rolling stock of the time, they were fitted with hook couplers and vacuum brakes. With a light tractive weight of only 58 tonnes (one tonne heavier than the 'X' class), and a reasonably powerful engine of 825 horsepower, gaining traction on long uphill grades was found to be difficult. They have a tendency to wheel-slip badly. Nevertheless they were considered successful.

Later years

When the TGR was taken over by Australian National (AN) in 1978, the decision was made to import a batch of second-hand '830' class Bo-Bo diesel engines from South Australia, and some 2,000-hp GEC diesels from Queensland, rapidly making the 'X' and 'Y' class engines obsolete. Nevertheless, throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s all members of the 'Y' class were retrofitted with stronger automatic couplers, which had by then become standard equipment. Some also received air-brakes, but those which retained their vacuum brakes were decommissioned in the late 1980s, coinciding with the eradication of their older 'X' class cousins. Some of these engines made their way into preservation societies.

TGR Y class today

The two members of the class which received air-brakes (Y1 and Y5) were retained by AN, and later by Pacific National, as shunters and light-traffic engines.

In mid-2001 one of the survivors, Y7, was rebuilt at Launceston. Its engine, generator, gearbox, driving controls and other traction equipment was removed, and the body weighted down with concrete. In this form the former locomotive, now reclassified DV1, was used as a dummy driving trailer on the Railton-Devonport cement shuttle, where the driver in the trailer at the head of the train controls the motive power engine at the rear by means of remote controls. The other two surviving engines, Y1 and Y5 (now renumbered 2150 and 2151) are in use as shunters at Boyer and Hobart, but are largely modified.

Y2 remains the flagship diesel electric locomotive of the Derwent Valley Railway and is regularly used on DVR services on the Derwen Valley and Main Lines. It has been restored to TGR red and cream livery.