International Railroad Discussion > Aussie Wide Cab GT26C's

Hi all,

Prior to Streamliners 2016, we had a few days to travel around NSW to get some shots. On 9-26-16 we went up to Werris Creek in the Hunter Valley region after hearing about quad 'C' class that were due to work a loaded grain train that afternoon.

First a little history.
The 10 'C' class were built for the Victorian Railways by Clyde Engineering in 1977/78 and numbered C501-C510. They are the EMD model GT26C but built with a wide cab. They did not have dash-2 electrics either. They were transferred to V/line in the early 80's before being taken over by the Federal Goverment owned National Rail in the mid 90's. After spending most of the late 90's and early 2000's in storage (except C505 and C508) they were sold to the Silverton Tramway except for the two non stored units and the class leader which went to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre. Under Silverton ownership all except C502 and C503 were returned to service.

In the mid 2000's, Silverton's assests were sold to RTS/Greentrains/Gemco Rail and a rebuild program was started. At this point in time C505 and C508 also came under the same new owners. They were fitted with toliets, had the primemovers upgraded from E3 to E3C and were fitted with Wabtec QES-3 microprocessor control system making them GT26C-3 units. Not long after rebuilding, C502, C503 and C508 were sold to CFCLA. The rest continued in lease service until early 2016 when they were stored. In mid 2016, Southern Shorthaul Railroad purchased the former Greentrains units - 504-507, 509, 510 and returned them to service.

1. C510, C504, C506, C509 at the Werris Creek sub terminal.

2. C504 in the RTS/Gemco blue livery.

3. The nose and cab on C506 with the Leslie S5T on the nose.

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Next lot.

1. 5478N loaded grain train powers away from Werris Creek with C509, C506, C504, C510.

2. Crossing a bridge at Quirindi.

3. Some hills providing the back drop near Braefield.

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Next lot.

1. Approaching Willow Tree.

2. Exiting Ardglen tunnel after topping the 2.5% grade (midway through the tunnel).

3. And the smoke haze....

Cheers,
Justin

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Video of the above train.

Enjoy,
Justin

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Some other images of these GT26C's I have.

1. C501 on hire to Pacific National shunts the Mobil fuel siding at Birkenhead in South Australia on 7/25/06. This preserved unit was repainted back into its as delivered livery.

2. Silverton's Cs1 and 80s1 wait on the crossing loop at Mingary in South Australia with an empty ballast train on 7/26/06. Cs1 was formally C507 and when it was rebuilt it returned back to its original number.

3. Cs1 leads Alco's 872 and NA1874 on a loaded welded rail train at Callington on 12/19/06.

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Some more.

1. C505 wearing the National Rail livery leads Silverton liveried Cs2 (C504) with an extra SCT service, 2AP9 from Adelaide to Perth at Direk, South Australia on 12/4/06.

2. Cs4 (C510) is awaiting to be moved across the tracks to Islington Workshops as it keeps Pacific National's V544 (GT46C) company at the Adelaide Freight Terminal on 11/4/07.

3. The cab of Cs4.

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Last lot.

1. Freshly rebuilt C503 at Two Wells on 7/24/08.

2. Cs1/C507 on a trial run after rebuilding at Islington on 11/5/07.

3. The cab of preserved C501.

Cheers,
Justin

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Sure have nice locomotive horns there, Leslie S5Ts, and Nathan P5s, for so little use, meaning that there seems to be a random blast here and there rather than the
set 26L formation used in North America.

Thanks for posting your nice photos and video.

Regards, Jim Evans

Cool pics and video!

Very good selection of photos, trains and locos  ---- thanks for posting. Chris uk.

Nice series of pics, cool looking locos.

Thank you for sharing. It was a pleasure to view these photos and congratulations on Video of the Day.
John

Interesting EMD products! They have a unique rugged look!

Tom Y

Thanks, great photos and video!

Thanks for the great comments and feedback everyone.

Cheers,
Justin

 

it is interesting to compare them with design  of   the wide cab GP60M units from the Santa Fe that came a long time after these were designed....

the British built similar styled  but English Electric units for East African railways and  the Queensland railways in the late 1950s as well

Great pics. The GT26's seen in Brazil are a bit different. Many were transfered to Mozambique by Vale mining. Other were scrapped and just a few survived in scrap yard. Only two are operational in MoW trains.

Posted from Android

Pedro Rezende
Vespasiano MG,
https://youtube.com/c/minasgeraisrailways1

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Justin