A gathering of streamlined diesel locomotives was held over the weekend of 1 to 3 October in the roundhouse, now a museum in Goulburn NSW Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYAQ4mebwrQ
That is a brief trailer to a full video, not by me. I had conflicting commitments but was able to observe the setting up on 30 September and the closing hours on 3 October.
At one stage Trains Magazine sponsored a trip to include a visit to this display but I assume it did not run.
I understand John C Benson attended and he has posted photos to his facebook site.
M636C
Thank you so much for sharing that great video! Much appreciated!
One minor question due to not being 100% familiar with the railroad map of Australia: Are those units standard gauge or broad gauge?
Again, thanks so much!
Bevan Wall comes through again! I've been trying to find more images from this event but haven't really had the time. A lot of effort was put into this, including pulling some of the locomotives from storage. I wish I could have gone, but couldn't.
The units here are all standard gauge, but many were converted from broad gauge or have identical units in their class on broad gauge. Many also are similar classes to those built for other railways that are on broad gauge.
The locomotives that operated on broad gauge originally displayed at Goulburn were the specially painted B61, and the locomotives together in the middle of the group B65, S302, S306 S317 and S300. Of these S317 was originally standard gauge as it was purchased for use on the 1962 standard gauge line from Albury to Melbourne.
In fact all of these locomotives were tested on standard gauge when new. I remember being taken to see B63 when new in Sydney in 1953 when I was four years old. I think I looked closely at the track to see if there was a third rail laid to allow a broad gauge loco to operate there, not realisiing that the trucks and axles could be changed relatively easily. I recall being given a brochure that included the GM styling artist's impressions of the B and the red and silver GM at the time.
These locomotives are based on F units with 16 cylinder 567 engines. The trucks are lighter versions of the SD7 Flexicoil, but are not standard EMD export trucks, which hadn't been developed in 1951 to 1952 when these started appearing.
The cabs are made from the standard EMD pressings but the locomotives are three inches narrower (and maybe six inches lower). The pressings were trimmed 1.5 inches on the inner mating side which shows up in the narrow centre pillar between the cab windows. These units are 58 feet long, about the length of an FL9.
The very first loco was the GM1, which was fourth from the right when I was there, in red and silver. This was in poor condition and was repainted by the company who repaired its trucks at no cost to the owner. The organisers added blue pinstriping to the nose and lettering to the right side only. The oval crest on the nose is a vinyl reproduction of the original casting but it looks really good. It took some time before I realised it wasn't original.
This loco GM1 will be preserved in Western Australia with a group who already have several of the cars it hauled when new. The current track owners in that area are not supportive of heritage trains, however.
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