BL27 and BL32 on 7903V pass through Mildura

The BL class are a class of diesel locomotives built by

Clyde Engineering Clyde Engineering was an Australian manufacturer of locomotives, rolling stock, and other industrial products. It was founded in September 1898 by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen buying the Granville factory of timber merchants Huds ...

Rosewater Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume. Rose water is also used to flavour ...

, for Australian National between 1983 and 1986. All but BL35 remain in service with

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian Governments) were combined with Freig ...

History

In 1982, Australian National placed an order for with

for 15

Electro-Motive Diesel Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its s ...

JT26C-2SS locomotives (an evolution of the

New South Wales 81 class locomotive The 81 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Kelso for the State Rail Authority. History Eighty 81 class locomotives were built by Clyde Engineering, Kelso between September 1982 and February 1986, to replace 195 ...

), to be classed BL and numbered 26 through 40. Australian National only took delivery of the first 10, with the other five delivered to

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

as their G class. The first five were delivered with standard gauge bogies, the last five with broad gauge bogies. The 10 Australian National locomotives were transferred to

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

and

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

to standard gauge in 1995, following the conversion of the Adelaide to Melbourne line. In December 1996, they began to operate on services to Sydney and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. In September 1998, after being repainted into SteelLink livery by Rail Services Australia,

Chullora Chullora, a suburb in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. ...

, four were transferred back to the broad gauge to haul steel trains for

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

from Long Island to

Dynon Dynon is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Denis Dynon (1822-1863), Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross *Kevin Dynon (1925-2017), Australian footballer *Moira Lenore Dynon (1920-1976), Australian chemist and community activist ...

. For a period in the late 1990s, they were rostered to haul ''

The Overland ''The Overland'' is an Australian passenger train service between the state capitals of Melbourne and Adelaide, a distance of 828 km (515 mi). It first ran in 1887 as the ''Adelaide Express'', known by South Australians as the ''Melb ...

'' between

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. , three were in service on the broad gauge, six on the standard gauge and one is in store. BL35 suffered a fire which damaged the roof, and is now stored at

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 ...

, awaiting scrapping.

Status Table

Model railways

HO Scale

Powerline released models of the first two batches of BL class locomotives in Australian National Green (with grey roof) in 1989, then with a new motor type in 1997. The first run included BL 27 and 29 with a single motor, and 26 "Bob Hawke", 28 and 30 with dual motors. The second run had BL locomotives painted in National Rail colours, this time with locomotives 27 and 29 as single-motor and 35 as double-motor. In 2014, Austrains released models of the BL class locomotive, retailing at about $300 per model, plus $100 for pre-fitted DCC and Sound. The range included BL 26 "Bob Hawke", 28 in Australian National Green, 27 and 35 in the National Rail Arrowhead scheme, 31 and 32 in the standard National Rail scheme, 29 and 30 in National Rail "Steelink", and 33 and 34 in Pacific National blue and yellow. Auscision Models has announced a future project comprising BL 26, 28 and 31 in variants of Australian National Green and gold, BL 29 and 35 in National Rail orange and grey, 32 and 34 with a darker charcoal grey, BL 30 and 33 in Steelink grey, and locomotives 26, 27, 28 and 35 in Pacific National blue and yellow.http://www.auscisionmodels.com.au/BL%20Class%20Locomotive.htm The models are expected to be delivered either as DC, or for an additional charge they could be pre-fitted with DCC and Sound.

N Scale

Aust-N-Rail made available in 2009 (2019?) a BL 32W "Alan Cogger" in Australian National Green, based on a Kato bottom engine kit.

References

External links

{{AusLocos, state=collapsed Clyde Engineering locomotives Co-Co locomotives Pacific National diesel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1983 Standard gauge locomotives of Australia Broad gauge locomotives in Australia Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia