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Victorian Railways L class
The Victorian Railways L class is a class of electric locomotives built by English Electric and operated by the Victorian Railways and later V/Line from 1953 until 1987 primarily on the Gippsland line. They were the only class of main line electric locomotive operated in Victoria.
Australia was a relatively early adopter of electric traction and Electric Multiple Unit trains, with a General Electric advertisement in Railway Age magazine of 1924 claiming that Melbourne had the largest suburban electrification scheme in the world at 346 miles (557 km). However, electrification in Victoria had until the 1950s been restricted to the Melbourne suburban network. Apart from the EMU fleet the only electric locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways (VR) were a fleet of 12 small 620 hp (460 kW) types (two steeple cabs 1100 and 1101 plus ten box cabs 1102 to 1111). In the 1960s the latter became classified E class. They were all built in the 1920s at VR's Newport Workshops for suburban goods service, using the same General Electric traction motors and electrical equipment employed on Melbourne's EMU fleet.
During the early 1950s, VR embarked on an £80 million program dubbed Operation Phoenix to rebuild a network badly run down by years of Depression-era underinvestment and wartime overutilisation. This included a substantial upgrade (regrading, rerouting and electrification) of the Gippsland line to Traralgon servicing Victoria's substantial brown coal fields in the Latrobe Valley to allow for greatly increased traffic in briquettes for industrial use. A suitably powerful electric locomotive was sought for both express passenger and heavy freight use on the upgraded, electrified line.
In-house locomotive production by VR had virtually ceased with the last of the N class locomotives in 1951, and an order was placed with English Electric in England for 25 locomotives. All were built at the Dick, Kerr & Co workshops in Stafford. The first two arrived in Australia in January 1953, entering service the following month on suburban Melbourne freight services pending the completion of the Gippsland line electrification. The Renfe Class 277 is a similar design.
Classleader L1150 entered service on 21 April 1953 on a Sunday excursion train to Warburton as far as Lilydale. The final locomotive L1174 entered service on 3 August 1954. Because the electrification scheme was not completed until 1956, 12 were stored at Newport Workshops.
The L class design reflected a compromise between a requirement to haul freight loads of up to 1,400 tons up a 1 in 110 gradient, and a requirement for a low axle load in consideration of VR's typically lightly laid line infrastructure. Although English Electric recommended a heavier locomotive, VR engineers argued against anything above a 97 ton maximum.
In order to achieve the required weight reductions, a series of novel weight-saving measures were taken. The original round-ended nose design (which was to have resembled the EMD F7 nose used on the B class Diesel) was shortened and squared off to allow the frame to be reduced in size and weight, reducing the depth of the cabs and requiring the driver to enter the cab via the engine room. Masonite was used in place of sheet metal to line the cab interior, and acrylic sheet was used in place of glass on some of the cab windows.
The L class locomotive was also fitted with what was believed to be the most powerful dynamic brake in the world at the time, with L1150 able to maintain a steady 32 mph (51 km/h) leading a 1,100 ton test train on a 1 in 50 down-grade without use of the air brake. They were built with gauge convertible bogies to allow them to operate on standard gauge.
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Victorian Railways L class
The Victorian Railways L class is a class of electric locomotives built by English Electric and operated by the Victorian Railways and later V/Line from 1953 until 1987 primarily on the Gippsland line. They were the only class of main line electric locomotive operated in Victoria.
Australia was a relatively early adopter of electric traction and Electric Multiple Unit trains, with a General Electric advertisement in Railway Age magazine of 1924 claiming that Melbourne had the largest suburban electrification scheme in the world at 346 miles (557 km). However, electrification in Victoria had until the 1950s been restricted to the Melbourne suburban network. Apart from the EMU fleet the only electric locomotives operated by the Victorian Railways (VR) were a fleet of 12 small 620 hp (460 kW) types (two steeple cabs 1100 and 1101 plus ten box cabs 1102 to 1111). In the 1960s the latter became classified E class. They were all built in the 1920s at VR's Newport Workshops for suburban goods service, using the same General Electric traction motors and electrical equipment employed on Melbourne's EMU fleet.
During the early 1950s, VR embarked on an £80 million program dubbed Operation Phoenix to rebuild a network badly run down by years of Depression-era underinvestment and wartime overutilisation. This included a substantial upgrade (regrading, rerouting and electrification) of the Gippsland line to Traralgon servicing Victoria's substantial brown coal fields in the Latrobe Valley to allow for greatly increased traffic in briquettes for industrial use. A suitably powerful electric locomotive was sought for both express passenger and heavy freight use on the upgraded, electrified line.
In-house locomotive production by VR had virtually ceased with the last of the N class locomotives in 1951, and an order was placed with English Electric in England for 25 locomotives. All were built at the Dick, Kerr & Co workshops in Stafford. The first two arrived in Australia in January 1953, entering service the following month on suburban Melbourne freight services pending the completion of the Gippsland line electrification. The Renfe Class 277 is a similar design.
Classleader L1150 entered service on 21 April 1953 on a Sunday excursion train to Warburton as far as Lilydale. The final locomotive L1174 entered service on 3 August 1954. Because the electrification scheme was not completed until 1956, 12 were stored at Newport Workshops.
The L class design reflected a compromise between a requirement to haul freight loads of up to 1,400 tons up a 1 in 110 gradient, and a requirement for a low axle load in consideration of VR's typically lightly laid line infrastructure. Although English Electric recommended a heavier locomotive, VR engineers argued against anything above a 97 ton maximum.
In order to achieve the required weight reductions, a series of novel weight-saving measures were taken. The original round-ended nose design (which was to have resembled the EMD F7 nose used on the B class Diesel) was shortened and squared off to allow the frame to be reduced in size and weight, reducing the depth of the cabs and requiring the driver to enter the cab via the engine room. Masonite was used in place of sheet metal to line the cab interior, and acrylic sheet was used in place of glass on some of the cab windows.
The L class locomotive was also fitted with what was believed to be the most powerful dynamic brake in the world at the time, with L1150 able to maintain a steady 32 mph (51 km/h) leading a 1,100 ton test train on a 1 in 50 down-grade without use of the air brake. They were built with gauge convertible bogies to allow them to operate on standard gauge.