Australian National AN Class
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The AN class is a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Somerton for Australian National in 1992–1993.


Introduction to service and operating history

They entered service on Australian National's standard gauge network from
Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...
to
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,
Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...
and
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."The AN class locomotives" ''Railway Digest'' September 1990 page 38 In 1995, all were leased to
National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...
with the transfer of Australian National's interstate operations. In January 1996, AN10 was destroyed in the Hines Hill train collision. In November 1997, the remaining 10 were sold to National Rail. passing into
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 ...
ownership with the sale of National Rail in February 2002. In 2004, they began to operate to Darwin on The Ghan following this line opening with AN3 painted in the Ghan livery between 2004 and 2014.


Future

As of January 2023, AN class locomotives are generally used as trailing locomotives on Intermodal and Steel services between Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. They were commonly used as second locomotives on steel trains in
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, Victoria,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
."Always the bridesmaid – The AN Class" ''Railway Digest'' November 2010 page 34 The class are currently facing storage in Melbourne due to combined high operational costs and mechanical failures. It's rumoured they'll be stored in
Werris Creek Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line to Armidale and Moree. At the 2011 census, Werris Creek had a ...
, New South Wales. As of 17 February 2023, the entire class is stored, with all except AN1 (which is in Port Augusta) in storage at South Dynon. In December 2023 the class has been making a return to service with AN1 running from Port Augusta on 4PM4 (3 December) and returning 6MP5 (9 December) after a trip to Spotswood. AN3 and AN8 are also at Spotswood. In September 2024, AN3 and AN8 were transferred to Port Augusta on 1MP2. They are expected to be stored there. It is unsure on what will happen with AN1, the only operational member of the class at this time. It is likely AN8 will be scrapped with the possibility of AN3 returning with AN8’s wheels


Fleet status


References

{{AusLocos, state=collapsed Clyde Engineering locomotives Co-Co locomotives Pacific National diesel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1992 Standard-gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel–electric locomotives of Australia