The Pacific National XRB class are a class of diesel locomotive B units built by

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock, jointly owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Governm ...

History

The XRB class were built by

at its South Dynon Locomotive Depot. They are mechanically similar to the XR class, but are B units without driving cabs. The EMD 16-645E3C engines were sourced second-hand from North America. They were built to operate as booster units on

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

interstate freight trains between

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and has to be led by a locomotive with a conventional driving cab. The XRB's original concept was to have these units remote controlled from the ground, but due to safety risks the plan was scrapped and they became mid unit power only. These units do not have hostler controls for moving them around yards and depots, only being fitted with a dead engine device and park-brake button. As of October 2022, all three are stored at

Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress Ra ...

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

Workshops. Australia Wide Fleet List '' Motive Power'' issue 144 November 2022 page 69

References

Co-Co locomotives Diesel–electric locomotives of Australia Locomotives with cabless variants Pacific National diesel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 2005 {{Australia-rail-transport-stub