Railway Digest Magazine September 2022 Vorige editie

The GT46CU-ACe – A new narrow gauge diesel locomotive
Peter Clark profiles the impressive new GT46U-Ace locomotives, recently delivered to Bowen Rail, the first new design from Progress Rail for Australia (the GT46C-ACe Gen II being a modification of the existing Downer EDI design). While some features appear to be based on the standard Progress Rail GT46C-AC export locomotive, the constraints of the Queensland loading gauge and the need to meet more stringent sound emission requirements has resulted in what is substantially a new design, from the rails up.

V/Line’s last locomotive hauled trains
According to a V/Line spokesperson an additional 12 new three-car VLocity units costing $250 million were announced in the Victorian budget 2022-23 and long-term plans include retirement of the classic fleet of locomotive hauled trains. Malcolm Simister examines the current situation and compares the performance of the two modes of travel, with its implications for timetabling in the future.

The Eastern Goldfields, Esperance, and Albany in May 2022
Phil Melling and his wife had not been in the Kalgoorlie/Esperance area of WA since late June/early July, and with around two weeks of holiday leave available they decided to revisit, though this time they would also include Albany. Over 12 days, they saw some very interesting operations, and caught up with the changes that had occurred since the last visit.