TWO historic locomotives were on the move last week – but only temporarily.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway (OTHR) members were joined by four members from Transport Heritage NSW to relocate two hydraulic diesel 7307 and 7321 locomotives from the railway station platform into the rolling stock shed near Albion Street.
The locomotives had not been fired up or moved since arriving at the station in 2010.
OTHR president Greg Bourne said they wanted to move the locos to get them out of the weather to preserve them for future use.
The two 73 class diesel engine locomotives were purchased from container terminal operator Patrick’s at Port Botany in 2010.
The locos were towed to Tarana Railway Station by other mainline diesels and were then loaded by crane onto two low-loaders and transported to Oberon.
The two diesels are relatively small, weighing only 50 tonnes, but are more than adequate to haul trains on the line between Oberon and Tarana - the ultimate aim of the OTHR group.
The units will enable two vintage 1897 end platform carriages to be used to carry tourists between Oberon and Hazelgrove and, eventually, between Oberon and Tarana.
The NSW 73 class are diesel-hydraulic locomotives originally purchased and operated by the NSW Government Railways (NSWGR) and manufactured by Walkers of Maryborough, Queensland. Fifty of these units were built between 1970 and 1973 and the first operated on NSW lines in October 1970.
In the 1960s, the NSWGR was in need of a powerful diesel shunting locomotive and following an order by Queensland Railways for similar units, the NSWGR placed an order with Walkers Limited for 20 B-B units fitted with a Caterpillar 485kW diesel engine. These were the first NWGR locomotives to be built in Queensland.
When the whole of the first order was delivered, these units replaced all steam shunting on the North Coast line and the Sydney metropolitan area, as well as at Goulburn.
Their presence was an immediate success and a further 30 units were ordered. The last of these arrived in March 1973 and this brought to an end all remaining steam shunting operations throughout the state.
Units 7301 and 7321 were initially based at Eveleigh Depot.