BHP Newcastle 37 class was a locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 that operated at the Newcastle

Newcastle, New South Wales

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...

 Steelworks of BHP

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...

 until 1999. This class of locomotive was used on both Standard Gauge (1435 millimetre) and Narrow Gauge (915 millimetre) at the Newcastle Steelworks.

History

Five locomotives were ordered from A Goninan & Co for use on the narrow gauge 915mm ingot system these had come with narrow frames compared to latter locomotives for the Standard Gauge System. The first loco entered service in 1960. Some have been preserved by the Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum and the Richmond Vale Railway.

Post Newcastle closure

A number of the locomotives of this have been sold to private buyers for use as shunters. Two were sold to the Mandrillra Group and two were sold to Junee Railway Workshop. Number 58 was sold to Heggies Bulkhaul and was renumbered HBL58 and was used as a shunter at Port Kembla. Since then HBL58 has been sold to the Mandrillra Group.

The locomotive design was used by other Industrial manufacting companyies around New South Wales including Southern Portland Cement

External links

• http://www.modeltrainsnthings.com/2007/08/05/steelworks-locomotives/
• Locomotives of Australia 1850s to 2007 By Leon Oberg Google Books

Further reading

• Steel & Rails Seris Published by Light Railway Research Society