Commonwealth Railways NSU class

Commonwealth Railways NSU class

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Preserved NSU58 at The Old Ghan Museum in Alice Springs in September 2006
Type and origin
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
Serial number DEL1-DEL14
Build date 1954/55
Total produced 14
Specifications
UIC class (A1A) (A1A)
Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Length 32.92 m (108 ft 0 in)
Loco weight 60 t (59 long tons; 66 short tons)
Fuel type Diesel
Prime mover Sulzer 6LDA28
Generator Crompton Parkinson CG390
Traction motors Crompton Parkinson
Performance figures
Maximum speed 80 km/h (50 mph)
Power output 630 kW (840 hp)
Career
Operators Commonwealth Railways
Number in class 14
Numbers NSU51-NSU64
First run 12 June 1954
Withdrawn August 1987
Preserved NSU51, NSU52, NSU54, NSU55, NSU58, NSU59, NSU61, NSU62, NSU64
Disposition 9 preserved, 5 stored

The NSU class were a class of diesel locomotives built by Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company for Commonwealth Railways for use on the Central and North Australia Railways in 1954/55.

History

Preserved NSU54 at the Pichi Richi Railway, Quorn in January 2007

By the end of World War II, the Commonwealth Railways were operating a ragged and worn out collection of rollingstock on their Central and North and Trans-Australian lines. Some of the narrow gauge locomotives were fifty or more years old, and the rolling stock not much the younger. Federal Minister for Fuel, Shipping & Transport George McLeay, made recommendations to Cabinet in 1950, to upgrade the Commonwealth Railway's fleet of both narrow and standard gauge locomotives and rollingstock.

In 1950 a tender was issued for 14 diesel locomotives for the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge lines.Thirteen companies submitted over thirty designs. However, as the specifications were rigid, most did not get past the first stage of the selection procedure.

The CR's Mechanical Branch also seemed to take preference for slower revving engines. The Sulzer plant finally selected ran at 750 rpm at idle, whereas one design submitted by AE Goodwin ran at 1500 rpm. Finlay [1] noted the "CR Mechanical Branch appeared not to have been overly excited about high revving engines, as it feared they would lead to high repair bills. 1000 rpm was considered fast enough". Finlay also notes that the seemed preference for slower speed engines, as well as the requirement of an electrical transmission resulted in the failure of many of the submitted tenders.

In 1951, the CR departed from their apparent tradition of using "well proven" designs, and awarded to contract to build the class of locomotives, later to be known as the NSU, to the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd (BRCW). The Sulzer/BRCW design had won over the English Electric Company's (EE) submission. Whilst EE were obviously a better known company (in Australia), having built many other pioneering Diesel Electrics, Sulzer plants had been used widely in the UK (the earliest UK Sulzer diesels were the Armstrong-Withworth "Universal's" of the 1930s,[2]) and Europe and other exported units, and would go on to power some 690 British Railways machines, using both the 6LDA plant, and later and larger in-line and V- units.[3][4]

Part of the Contract with BRCW stipulated that, in view of its 42 years of experience in loco design, Sulzer were to accept full responsibility for the design and performance of the completed loco (6). The CR had knowledge of Sulzer since the appointment of Deane as its Engineer in Chief of Construction of the Trans line. Deane had proposed in the early days of the TAR that dieselisation was the way to go, and had considered early Sulzer designs then.[5] (Some have suggested that the CR worked with the South Australian Railways to trial diesel traction).,[6] However, the technology was not developed enough to be reliable. Deane was a generation ahead of his time.

The Sulzer Engine

The engines used in the NSU class were amongst the last engines built by Sulzer at their Winterthur plant, for use outside of Europe. Later engines were (bar a few exceptions) built under contract by Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, England.[3]

The LDA series engine had its origins in the 1920s and was specifically designed for use in railway applications.[3] Some sources suggest, similar to the WAGR X Class, a heritage in sub maritime application. There is no link. Perhaps similar to Crossley, Sulzer has had, and continues to have, a significant involvement in maritime work.

In Service

The first to arrive was NSU52 on 10 May 1954 at Port Adelaide, it was used for crew training. It was followed by NSU51 on 20 May 1954. Still temporarily mounted on standard gauge bogies, on 12 June 1954 NSU51 was unveiled at Port Augusta with a pair of plates bearing the name of the then Federal Minister for Fuel, Shipping & Transport George McLeay. The locomotive then worked a trip to Bookaloo (68 kilometres) and return for dignitaries and guests.[7][8][9]

On 26 June 1954 NSUs 51 and 52 worked the first northbound diesel hauled Ghan into Alice Springs conveniently timed to coincide with a visit of Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.[10] The last of the class was commissioned in August 1955.[11][12]

Minor faults with voltage regulators[13] and air and oil filtration systems were quickly rectified, and the class went on to earn a reputation as an efficient and robust unit. It was initially planned to the new locomotives would be able to complete a 1,370 kilometre round trip from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs on one tank of fuel. This proved to be impractical and a 91,000 litre fuel tank was installed at Alice Springs.[14]

Though NSU54 did work on the standard gauge for some months between Port Augusta and Port Pirie during 1954, following that period the fleet worked out of Port Augusta on the narrow gauge. Following the conversion of the Central Australia Railway from Port Augusta to Marree to standard gauge in 1957, two were transferred to the North Australia Railway operating out of Darwin. Over the next 17 years locomotives would be periodically swapped between the two lines.[15]

Similar to the standard gauge experience, dieselisation of the CAR led to a reduction of 60% of operating costs over steam.[16]

In July 1975 all were included in the transfer of Commonwealth Railways to Australian National. The NSU class remained intact until the replacement of the narrow gauge Central Australian Railway in 1980 with two transferred to Gladstone for use on the Wilmington line and one to Peterborough for use on the Quorn line. A few saw service with contractors removing the closed Central Australian Railway.[15] The last was withdrawn in 1987.

Preservation

All of the class have survived. However, only two are currently operational, NSU52 and 58.

Livery

The class spent their entire lives in Commonwealth Railways maroon and silver.

Status

References

Notes

  1. Finlay, K "Purchasing the NSU" Pichi Richi Patter Vol 18, No 10, pp 10–12
  2. Cooper B K: 1999: Locomotive Profile. Class 33 Cromptons: Ian Allan Ltd ISBN 0711018944
  3. 1 2 3 Tayler, A T H. 1984: Sulzer Types 2 and 3: Iann Allan Publishing Surrey
  4. Webb, B. 1978: Sulzer Locomotives of British Rail: David and Charles Locomotive Studies
  5. Burke, A 1991., Rails through the Wilderness; New South Wales University Press
  6. Holden, R 2006 No. 259 : the curious story of a forgotten locomotive, Railmac Publications
  7. "Demonstration run of CR narrow gauge locomotives takes place on Standard gauge" Railway Transportation July 1954
  8. Obern, L Locomotives of Australia, Reed Books 1975
  9. 1 2 3 4 Commonwealth Railways NSU class locomotives Pichi Rich Railway
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The History of the Pichi Richi Railway" Pichi Richi Railway Preservation Society 1984
  11. Narrow Gauge NSU Chris' Commonwealth Railways Pages
  12. NSU Class Railpage
  13. Pearce, Kenn (2011). Riding the "wire fence" to the Alice. Elizabeth, South Australia: Railmac Publications. ISBN 978-1-86477-079-7.
  14. "Purchasing the NSU" Pichi Richi Patter Vol 18, No 10, pp 10–12
  15. 1 2 Oberg, Leon (1984). Locomotives of Australia 1850's - 1980's. Frenchs Forest: Reed Books. pp. 215–216. ISBN 0 730100 05 7.
  16. Railway Transportation December 1958 "From Bolivian Highlands to Australian Plains"
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Yates, R 1980 "Narrow Gauge Movements" Steamtown Newsletter No 9 June 1980 Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society
  18. 1 2 3 4 Sampson, R (editor) Catchpoint Port Dock Station Railway Museum, Various Editions
  19. 1 2 3 4 Perrin, S (Editor) Steamtown Newsletter, various editions Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society (now defunct)
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Personal Comment to Author Terry B (Alice Springs)
  21. 1 2 Evans, J 2008: "Proceed to Hawker; An operational and sometimes social history of the last years of the Quorn to Hawker section of the Great Northern Railway" Railmac Publications
  22. 1 2 The Partyline - Autumn 1994 Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society
  23. 1 2 The Partyline - Winter 1998 Steamtown Peterborough Railway Preservation Society,
  24. 1 2 Harvey J Y 1987: The Never Never Line; Hyland House Publishing, Melbourne
  25. Steamtown Management Committee Meeting May 2009 Accessed 23 July 2010

Bibliography

  • Fluck, Ronald E; Marshall, Barry; Wilson, John (1996). Locomotives and Railcars of the Commonwealth Railways. Welland, SA: Gresley Publishing. ISBN 1876216018. 

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