The Westrail DB class is a class of

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s 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

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respons ...

in 1982-1983.

History

In 1980,

ordered ten DB class locomotives from

. Designated as the

EMD G26 The G26 is a diesel-electric locomotive built in the US by General Motors Electro-Motive Diesel for export and in Australia by Clyde Engineering under licence. The G26 was developed to increase traction capacities on the tracks which supporte ...

C-2, they were an evolution of the DA class. The original order was extended to thirteen in October 1980. The class were fitted with a full width cab, dual braking (

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

and

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or " void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often di ...

) systems, a pressurised body to exclude dust and were the first Westrail locomotives to have air-conditioned cabs."The Westrail DB class" ''

Motive Power ''Motive Power'' is a bi-monthly railway related magazine that focuses on diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been d ...

'' issue 94 July 2014 pages 29-41 They were not owned by Westrail, but leverage leased from LVL Nominees, entering service between April 1982 and May 1983. All were named after cities and shires in South West Western Australia. Brass nameplates were originally fitted, but these were later replaced by painted names. All were included in the sale of Westrail to

Australian Railroad Group Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The mai ...

in December 2000, the State Government having bought out the leases shortly before. As part of a policy to drop letter classifications in favour of a numeric system based on horsepower, they became the 2300 class. In May 2003, 2313 was transferred to Australian Southern Railroad's

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

operation, it returned in August 2006. In June 2006, all were included in the sale of Australian Railroad Group's Western Australian operation to

QR National Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated ...

. Between 2006 and 2012, all were equipped with ZTR

engine control An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

equipment. A change in policy saw letter classifications reintroduced, with the class again becoming the DB class. Upon being fitted with ZTR equipment, they were reclassified as DBZs. All remained in service at the beginning of 2013, however 12 months later this was down to five with the last two withdrawn in March 2014. By June 2014, seven had returned to service.

Class list

References

External links

Flickr gallery
{{WAGR Locomotives, state=collapsed Aurizon diesel locomotives Clyde Engineering locomotives Co-Co locomotives Diesel locomotives of Western Australia Railway locomotives introduced in 1982 3 ft 6 in gauge locomotives of Australia Diesel-electric locomotives of Australia