Alcos soldiering on Down Under

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LOCOS built or designed by ALCO, several more than 60 years old, remain in service with multiple freight and some heritage operators in Australia.

More than 400 locos built to American Locomotive Company (or ALCO) designs were constructed under licence by Australian firm A E Goodwin between mid-1955 and 1972 before Goodwin became insolvent, and was bought by engineering firm Comeng, which completed further locos.

GrainCorp operates one of eastern Australia’s largest integrated grain storage and transport networks and bought 18 of the ex-NSWGR 48 Class to haul grain trains. They were progressively overhauled at Junee Railway Workshops and renumbered in the 482xx series. Nos. 48201, 48207 and 48212 are seen at the Junee Roundhouse on April 12, 2018. STEVE McNICOL

The first ALCOs in Australia were New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) 40 Class. The 20-strong class were 1,750HP A1A-A1A locos based on the ALCO RSC3 design and ordered in the early-1950s.

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All were built by ALCO’s Canadian subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) and delivered between 1951/52. All had been withdrawn by December 1971 as more modern diesels replaced them.

Three NSWGR 40 Class survive, the remainder having been scrapped to provide parts for the Class 442 locos built to replace them.

Read more in the September issue of The RM – on sale now!

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