The Silverton Tramway 48s class are a class of diesel locomotives built by

AE Goodwin AE Goodwin was an Australian heavy engineering firm, which produced railway locomotives and rolling stock, as well as roadmaking machinery at its factory in Auburn. History Founded in December 1935 by Arthur Elliott Goodwin, the company was ...

, Auburn for the

Silverton Tramway The Silverton Tramway was a 58-kilometre-long railway line running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Operating between 1888 and 1970, it served the mines in Broken Hill, and formed the lin ...

in 1960–1961. The

State Rail Authority The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003. History The ''Transport Authorities A ...

48 class and

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the organisation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Australian Natio ...

830 __NOTOC__ Year 830 ( DCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * King Wiglaf of Mercia regains control from Wessex, and returns to the throne.Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. ...

class are of a very similar design.

History

Between December 1960 and September 1961, the Silverton Tramway Company took delivery of three Alco DL531 locomotives from

, Auburn painted red and white numbered 27 to 29. They were the same as the 48 class and 830 class locomotives. All were delivered for use on the 56 kilometre

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

line 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 Cockburn."Silverton" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways in Australia. Overview The magazine is published by the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was in March 1 ...

'' July 1985 page 189 After the Silverton Tramway was replaced by a new standard gauge line, 27 was sold to the

in February 1970 as 874 and after being rebuilt with a nose low cab, continues in service with Genesee & Wyoming Australia as 907. The other two were fitted with standard gauge bogies, 28 at Silverton's workshop and 29 at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.Australian National 830 class from

AN Tasrail AN Tasrail was an Australian railway operator that operated the Rail transport in Tasmania, Tasmanian rail network from March 1978 until November 2004. Originally a subsidiary of the Australian Government, federal government's Australian Nationa ...

"Silverton" ''Railway Digest'' August 1990 page 286 followed in December 1994 by six ex-

48 class locomotives. Initially numbered in the STxx series, all were renumbered as the 48s class. Also purchased for parts were two 830s and three 48s.

Mainline service

In 1995/96, Silverton Rail leased ST30 to ST35 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 ...

for use on Adelaide to Melbourne services as

bankers A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina (South Australia), Lake Al ...

. Following Silverton Rail being awarded a contract by National Rail to haul iron ore trains from

Cobar Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...

Narromine Narromine (Help:IPA/English, /næroʊmaɪn/) is a rural Australian town located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Dubbo in the Orana, New South Wales, Orana region of New South Wales. The town is at the centre of Narromine Shire. ...

, most of the STs were transferred to

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

in August 1999. All ten were included in the sale of Silverton Rail to

South Spur Rail Services South Spur Rail Services was a Western Australian owned railway company that provides terminal operations and short haul rail services. In February 2006, it purchased Southern & Silverton Rail, Silverton Rail. In March 2007, it was sold to Eng ...

in 2006 and later passed to

Greentrains Greentrains was a locomotive and rolling stock leasing company in Australia. It was formed in June 2008 as a subsidiary of Coote Industrial. In 2008, Coote Industrial subsidiary Gemco Rail acquired 42 locomotives and 54 wagons from the distre ...

. They primarily operate in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. In April 2016, five Greentrains units were sold to

Southern Shorthaul Railroad Southern Shorthaul Railroad is an Australian rail freight services operator in New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The company also provides workshop services, such as rolling stock manufacturing and wagon and locomotive mainte ...

."Greentrans rollingstock sold to Holdco Holdings" ''Railway Digest'' June 2016 page 6

Status table

Purchased new

Purchased second hand

References

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed A. E. Goodwin locomotives Co-Co locomotives Diesel locomotives of New South Wales Railway locomotives introduced in 1960 Silverton Tramway Standard-gauge locomotives of Australia 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel–electric locomotives of Australia