Victorian Railways S class (diesel)

The S class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Victorian Railways between 1957 and 1961.
==History==
The S class was based on the Electro-Motive Diesel F7 design and were very similar to the GM12 class then being built by Clyde Engineering for the Commonwealth Railways. They were mechanically similar to the 1952 built double ended B class.
The first order for 10 locomotives were progressively delivered between August 1957 and February 1958. The first four took the names and numbers of the recently scrapped S class steam locomotives, with all being named after prominent Victorians. An additional eight locomotives were ordered for use on the new North East standard gauge line and delivered between November 1960 and December 1961.
The class were initially used on express passenger trains such as the Intercapital Daylight, Southern Aurora, Spirit of Progress and The Overland, but were also used on fast freights. On the broad gauge, they often operated in pairs, while on the standard gauge they usually ran solo. A second 'hostlers' cab was provided at the number two end, but was only used around depots, or to haul empty carriages short distances.
In February 1969, two were destroyed in the Violet Town Railway Disaster, and were deemed uneconomical to repair and scrapped. In January 1967 S317 was badly damaged in a head-on collision with X33 south of Broadford Loop and was returned to Clyde Engineering for rebuilding. In June 1982, S317 was again involved in a fatal accident when it ran into the rear of the Spirit of Progress at Barnawartha, killing the crew.
As more modern locomotives were introduced, those on the standard gauge moved to the broad gauge. Examples would periodically appear on the standard gauge.
When the G Class engines entered service, the railways declared that no more S Class engines would undergo major overhauls. The last two had been S301 in 1985 and S307 in 1986; as of July 1987, engines S303, 304, 305 and 309 were withdrawn, 308 banned as a leading unit and 306 was under minor repair but still in the VR Blue livery. In February 1994, four (300, 302, 311, 312) were sold to West Coast Railway for use on their Melbourne to Warrnambool passenger service. By April 1999, only four remained in the V/Line fleet and even these were only used during periods of high demand. A few have been preserved.
Privatization brought an upturn in the class' fortunes with some overhauled and as at May 2014, they remain in service with CFCL Australia, Pacific National and Southern Shorthaul Railroad. In 2019, S300 and S311 were purchased privately from CFCLA. S311 was purchased from its private owner by SSR in mid 2020 and was promptly returned to service, still on standard gauge operating primarily in NSW.
==Fleet status==
Key:	In Service	Withdrawn	Preserved	Converted	Scrapped
Locomotive 	Serial no	Name 	Entered service	Withdrawn 	Scrapped 	Livery 	Status 	Owner(s) 	Gauge 	Notes
First Order 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
S300 	57-164 	Matthew Flinders 	21 Aug 1957 	 	 	CFCLA Silver and Blue 	Under restoration Canberra	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), West Coast Railway (1994), CFCLA (2004), Privately owned (2019?) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	Purchased from CFCL Australia; at Canberra Railway Museum
S301 	57-165 	Sir Thomas Mitchell 	4 Sep 1957 	 	 	Freight Australia Green and Yellow with Pacific National Logos	Stored 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), Freight Australia (1999), Pacific National (2004). 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	At Newport Workshops
S302 	57-166 	Edward Henty 	18 Sep 1957 	 	 	El Zorro Orange and Grey with SSR Logos 	Operational 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), West Coast Railway (1994), V/Line Passenger (2004), El Zorro (2006), Southern Shorthaul Railroad (2014)	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
S303 	57-167 	CJ La Trobe 	30 Sep 1957 	Jul 1988 	 	VR Blue and Gold 	Preserved-operational 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), VicTrack Heritage Register (1990) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	Allocated to Seymour Railway Heritage Centre
S304 	57-168 	George Bass 	15 Oct 1957 	May 1987 	Mar 1992 	VR Blue and Gold 	Scrapped 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
S305 	57-169 	Hamilton Hume 	4 Nov 1957 	2 Dec 1985 	Feb 1991 	VR Blue and Gold 	Scrapped 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
S306 	57-170 	John Batman 	25 Nov 1957 	Jun 2019 	 	Pacific National Blue and Yellow 	Operational. 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), Freight Australia (1999), Pacific National (2004). 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	Returned To Broad Gauge in September 2018, Available for use by 707 Operations to support their activities.
S307 	57-171 	John Pascoe Fawkner 	10 Dec 1957 	 	 	Pacific National Blue and Yellow 	Stored Port Augusta 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), Freight Australia (1999), Pacific National (2004). 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	
S308 	58-179 	Sir Redmond Barry 	20 Jan 1958 	25 Jul 1988	 	V/Line Orange and Grey 	Static display 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), VicTrack Heritage (????) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	Allocated to the Newport Railway Museum
S309 	58-182 	William Lonsdale 	24 Feb 1958 	19 Jul 1988	1996 	V/Line Orange and Grey 	Scrapped 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
Second Order	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
S310 	60-227 	George Higinbotham 	25 Nov 1960 	 	 	V/Line Orange and Grey 	Stored 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), Freight Australia (1999), Pacific National (2004), Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (2013) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
S311 	60-228 	Sir Ferdinand von Mueller	16 Nov 1960 	 	 	CFCLA Silver and Blue with SSR Logos 	In Service 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), West Coast Railway (1994), CFCLA (2004), Privately Owned (2019?),
Southern Shorthaul Railroad (2020) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	
S312 	60-229 	Peter Lalor 	27 Jan 1961 	 	 	Rail Power Black with SSR Logos 	Operational 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), West Coast Railway (1995), Rail Power (2011), SSR (2017) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	
S313 	61-230 	Alfred Deakin 	27 Feb 1961 	14 Dec 1994	 	VR Blue and Gold 	Preserved-operational 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), VicTrack Heritage Register (1996) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	Withdrawn after suffering a serious electrical fault, allocated to Steamrail Victoria in 1996, first ran in preservation in 1997
S314 	61-231 	Sir John O'Shanassy 	20 Apr 1961 	7 Feb 1969 	7 Feb 1969	VR Blue and Gold 	Scrapped 	VR (Built) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	destroyed Violet Town railway disaster
S315 	61-238 	Sir Charles Gavan Duffy 	16 Oct 1961 	23 Aug 1988	Apr 1992 	V/Line Orange and Grey 	Scrapped 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	
S316 	61-239 	Sir Andrew Clarke 	10 Nov 1961 	7 Feb 1969 	7 Feb 1969	VR Blue and Gold 	Scrapped 	VR (Built) 	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) standard gauge 	destroyed Violet Town railway disaster
S317 	61-240 	Jenny Molloy 	7 Dec 1961 	 	 	SSR Black and Silver 	Operational 	VR (Built), VicRail (1974), V/Line (1983), Great Northern (????), Southern Shorthaul Railroad (2004) 	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge	Previously named Sir John Monash, probably renamed when repainted into SSR livery
==Model Railways==
===HO scale===
The S Class was one of the first plastic, ready-to-run model railway locomotives made specifically to cater to the Victorian market. An initial release by Lima in 1976 recycled their 44 Class body shell with a paint scheme roughly resembling that of the Victorian Railways.
Also in the 1970s, Tyco produced a repainted version of their EMD F9 with the Victorian Railways livery and numbered S301, which was a unique road number for a Tyco model. With the model being an F-unit, it is shorter than an S class and only has four-wheeled bogies, although the Tyco bogies used on the model were actually six-wheeled designs with elongated sideframes to approximate the Blomberg design for the F-unit. As the locomotive had American-style X2F horn hook couplers however, it was not compatible with other Australian rolling stock without modification, as most Australian models at the time used NEM hook and loop couplers (for example Lima) or Hornby tension lock couplers.
In 1977, Hornby modified their B/L Class design to create their approximation of the S Class engine, this time with the rounded bulldog nose. The model, which was marketed through 1977–1978, was released as either S311 or S315 with product code R.317. The model utilized the then-standard Silver Seal Ringfield motor, and around 12,000 units were produced, mostly in sets.
To compete with the Hornby model, Lima invested in a proper body mould for the S Class design, released in 1981 as S302 and S315. This model was re-released on multiple occasions, and eventually in V/line orange (S310) and West Coast Railway blue (S302). With more accurate models being released in the decades since, original Lima models are regularly repurposed as parts donors or for merging into fictional engines, i.e. a non-driving "SB" class.
In October 1991, VR Models released a series of name and number plates which could be used on any of the earlier releases.
Also in the early 1990s, Precision Scale Models imported a range of VR Blue and V/Line orange brass locomotives.
Finally, in November 2009, TrainOrama released a modern-quality take on the S Class locomotive. The engine featured a five-pole skew-wound motor, pickup from all wheels (and all powered), and no rubber tyres; twin flywheels; directional headlights and marker lights, and a range of other details. Engines were sold individually, with an RRP of $285.00.
The first batch included models of S300, S301, S303, S306, S308, S311, S312, S313, S315 and S317 in VR Blue, S309 and S310 in V/Line Orange, and S303 in Freight Australia Green. Some of the blue engines were in the earlier format, with fuel tank valences and nose doors; others had the valences removed and the nose doors welded shut.
In mid-2016, Bobs Hobbies, now the owner of TrainOrama, announced a re-release of the S Class engines, with new numbers. The price rose to $295.00 per unit, and the range now includes S304, S305 and S313 in blue and S308 and S312 in orange.
To date, no models have been released of S307, S314, or S316.
===N Scale===
In 1984, Weico released a kit that could be used to construct either a NSW 42 Class or VR S Class locomotive. In 2018, Gopher Models introduced ready-to-run models of the NSW 42 class, the CR GM-12 class and the VR S class in a variety of liveries.
==Gallery==
File:S308.jpg
Category:C-C locomotives
Category:Victorian Railways
Category:Diesel-electric locomotives
Category:Clyde Engineering locomotives
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Category:Standard gauge locomotives of Australia
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
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Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
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