West Coast S 302

West Coast S 302

Victorian Railways 'S' Class

Clyde Engineering acquired the services of former SAR Chief Mechanical Engineer Fred Shea, to design and oversee the production of a GM-EMD F7 model suitable for use on the Commonwealth Railways system, importantly on the Trans Australia Railway. The equipment was re-arranged to suit Australia's tighter loading gauges, resulting in a lower, longer version of the US EMD unit. The longer carbody facilitated a 3rd, unpowered axle in the bogie, the burden of US axle load being well beyond the tolerance of existing infrastructure.

So impressed was the Commonwealth Railways administration with the locomotive's on-time delivery over 1951/1952, that the
fleet was named the GM Class. Design revisions led to the developement of a Co-Co version, the GM-12 Class with an updated EMD power unit. The modifications added a substantial 100kN to the locomotive's continuous tractive effort, and the success of the GM-12 resulted in orders from the Railways of NSW and Victoria.

The Victorian 'S' Class is of slightly greater horsepower than the GM-12, and was fitted with a hostler's cab at the rear.
The S Class worked over both the broad and standard gauge networks of Victoria on The Spirit of Progress, The Overland,
and on goods services. The introduction of through-working between states saw the Class regularly run into NSW & South Australia.

Today most of the 18 units have been withdrawn, though 4 were returned to service after a period of storage. Private operator West Coast Railway purchased 4 units for use on passenger services, and the last S Class locomotive to enter service for VR, S317 is maintained by Great Northern Railway.

Year: 1957
Power 1350 kW
Engine EMD 16-567C
Axles Co-Co
Length: 18.72m
Weight 116t
Tractive effort: 285 / 239 kN
Maximum Speed: 133 km/h

West Coast S 302
• config.txt 3.22KB
wcrs_art
vrs_blue_art_512.tga 1.00MB
vrs_blue_art_icon.tga 32.02KB
wcrs_art_512.texture.txt 81 bytes
wcrs_art_icon.texture.txt 83 bytes
wcrs_body
digit_1.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_1.tga 3.04KB
digit_2.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_2.tga 3.04KB
digit_3.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_3.tga 3.04KB
digit_4.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_4.tga 3.04KB
digit_5.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_5.tga 3.04KB
digit_6.texture.txt 30 bytes
digit_6.tga 3.04KB
env_metal.bmp 48.05KB
env_metal.texture.txt 32 bytes
horn_support-horn_support.texture.txt 59 bytes
horn_support.bmp 3.05KB
horn_support.tga 6.04KB
light-light.texture.txt 45 bytes
light.bmp 2.05KB
light.texture.txt 28 bytes
light.tga 3.04KB
vrorange_s_sidegrill_opacity.bmp 9.05KB
vrs_blue_sidegrill-vrorange_s_sidegrill_opacity.texture.txt 81 bytes
vrs_blue_sidegrill.tga 24.53KB
vrs_vrblue_a.texture.txt 35 bytes
vrs_vrblue_a.tga 1.00MB
vrs_vrblue_b.texture.txt 35 bytes
vrs_vrblue_b.tga 128.53KB
wcrs_shadow
black.texture.txt 28 bytes
black.tga 812 bytes