International Railroad Discussion > Return of Expat locos

Ex Queensland Cape gauge GT22CU-3

Purchased by PR, to South Africa on the "Antje”, departed Fisherman Islands (Brisbane) 21/07/2015.

Rebuilt by DCD Boksburg (now TMH Africa - Transmashholding), rumoured for ZNR (Zimbabwe National), but deal collapsed.

Arrived Port Adelaide on the "Thunder Bay" 27/06/2019.

Locos stacked on hard-pad to rear of wharf, currently impounded by Quarantine.

To be trucked 300km north to PR at Port Augusta for brake conversion from vacuum to air, and for couplers to be adjusted back to Australian height. Said to have been purchased (or leased) by Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA).

2250 Class Clyde/EMD;  Redbank GT22C-3 rebuilds
2260 ex 1572H (76-819 09/76) rebuilt 2006
2261 ex 2138    (74-789 01/75) rebuilt 2006
2262 ex 2140    (74-791 03/75) rebuilt 2006
2269 ex 1573H (76-820 09/76) rebuilt 2006
2275 ex 2144F  (73-774 08/73) rebuilt 2009

"Thunder Bird" due in Brisbane on Tuesday, rumoured to be carrying 5 Cape gauge GL26CU-2 for Watco
These units ex Qld 2170 Class, ex Transnet (South Africa) 35800 Class, Worked out of Bellville Shed in Cape Town
Will confirm if these arrive next week

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Watco currently have 5 Cape guage GT22CU-3 clones on order from NRE for use in Queensland
https://www.nre.com/news/international-spotlight-new-class-locomotives-australia

Watco are fabricating the cabs for NRE
Page 4, The Dispatch, Volume 20, Issue 5 - May 2019
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/19 15:55 by jmt.

Interesting. I am wondering if the cost of these convertion and transport isn't much in comparison to a new unit built in Australia. At this moment in Brazil any railroad invest much to restore old units. They prefer to buy new ones from GE or EMD factories here.

Pedro

Posted from Android

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

Locomotives are not built in Australia any more.
DMU/EMU are still built, or partially assembled, for government owned metropolitan transit systems.
Over the last couple of years, there have been a few units from UGL, the GE licensee, basically end runs from earlier contracts.
PR built the 17 PR22L for TasRail, plus the 3 GT46C-ACe now with G&W, in the USA.

In Australia (apart from TasRail), open access operators are either public or private companies.
There is no woolly headed thinking, driven by political expediency. These corporates will not pay a premium for a locally built/assembled product.
Locos for the West Australian iron ore miners have been imported for the last couple of decades

The cost of labour here is now too high to compete with imports

Fortunately the 23 units that came in from China have been unmitigated disasters, so Chinese now appears to be off the menu.
These Chinese locos served a purpose. Ordering them broke the nexus between GE/EMD and their local licensees.
Both GE/EMD realised that they would loose market share if they persisted with the exclusive franchises granted to the local licensee.

From memory the SDD8 imported into Brazil in 2008, were gas-axed by 2013?

Yes, they had a short life on fca. The two units were in a dead line until last month, when finally were scrapped together with the old Alco MX620.

jmt Wrote:

> From memory the SDD8 imported into Brazil in 2008,
> were gas-axed by 2013?

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

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jmt Wrote:
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>
> Fortunately the 23 units that came in from China
> have been unmitigated disasters, so Chinese now
> appears to be off the menu.

Ah, you mean these fine marvels of locomotive engineering? (alias: CSR-Ziyang SDA1)  Their MTU V20 prime movers (4000 hp) sound like an oversized city bus.  Don't forget your asbestos mask.

Qube Logistics QBX 005/006 coming off the shop track at Goulburn, NSW 3 October 2016.

d.

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Chinese Locos.
A decision maker from one of the Australian operators described it thus.
For a given amount of capital, do you purchase 6 units from the USA, and expect 90 to 92% productivity, or 10 from China, and hope for around 80%.
CRRC in Australia outsource the provision of warranty services to Penske Power Systems.
The Chinese supply chain for spare parts is long and torturous. State corporations are still caught up in Central Planning, with planners in Beijing allocating the flow of work to component OEM's.
Employees of State owned corporations have no understanding of commercial reality, and the need to actually make a profit, to them time lines are meaningless.
Chinese State corporate managers in overseas offices only have limited decision making capacity, if there is not a political commissar in country to OK a decision, it goes back to China. 
Locomotive design in China is the monopoly of bureaus attached to engineering universities, Not to CRRC, who are not vertically integrated like EMD/GE in the USA.
There is an increasing trend for purchasers of Chinese locos, like Pacific National's SDA2, and Transnet's 45 Class, to outsource the design to organisations like ABB, then contract CRRC to assemble. The SDD22 and SDD23 for Pakistan are credited to Caterpillar (the engine vendor). This move frees CRRC from using an indigenous design bureau, and from central planners, as the design contractor then supplies CRRC with the engine, alternator, compressor, brakes, etc. 
Chinese locos are not integrated units like in the USA, they are assembled from a basket of bits, which is one of the reasons for ongoing software issues. Each new loco type requires a customised software suit.