"On Shed" at the ARHS on Boxing Day

On Saturday 26 December 2009, opportunity was taken to grab a couple of pics of the locomotives "on shed" at the ARHS in Canberra.

Here we see 4833 and 4468 front on sitting outside the main shed.















Here is the sole 4807 sitting by itself.














7315 and 4833 coupled up on 5 road.














Looking across the front of 4807 we see 4833 stabled.














The mass congregation 4833, 7315 and 4468 all parked up the top end of the yard.














Side shot of 4833 and 4468














No. 2 end of 4468














Dwarfed by its stable mates is 7315














The end of Set 52 just hanging outside the shed with 4468 and 7315.















The first female test pilot of 4468!

One Last Time - Bye Bye Loco Hauled Services!

On the 10 July 1994, 4468 in conjuction with 4403 hauled the last locomotive operated service from Goulburn to Central. For those who may not be aware, 4403 is now in preservation with the Junee Roundhouse Preservation group in operative condition.

Here is a photo taken by Anthony Snedden provided for our viewing interest of the train at Moss Vale on the return (maybe we may see them together on a train again!). Interestingly to the right is the 'replacement' of the loco hauled services...

Preliminary Works Continue...

Following replacement of the batteries and starting the engine on Saturday (12/12), works continued to fine tune things on the Loco. The team set about adjusting the compressor governor to roughly where it should be, and this seems to be working with the air system now charging to correct pressure.

On Monday (14/12), she started on her own without the need to 'jump start' (with the goodness of having some NFG cells changed out), so the batteries that were 'originals' from when the engine was acquired and not changed out last weekend seem to be in reasonable condition.

One problem noted from the couple of times that the team has started the engine is that whilst she has been loading up, the donk has not revved. To confirm the problem, the work team hooked up 4807 to check out the problem in 4468 control systems. After a failed first attempt, (the problem being between the user left the engine control switch in idle) which was quickly solved, the team were able to rev 4468 from 4807.

From a mechanical point of view (at a glance) there seems to be no problem with the actual engine side of things. The locomotive was even able to move the 48/44 pair up the yard using only 4468's power (controlled from 4807).

More updates as work continues!

Happy "Alco"holic-ing until next time.

Inaugural 4468 Workday - Saturday 6 February 2010

To kick things off on the restoration of 4468, the inaugural work day will be Saturday 6 February 2010.

As is the case of current 6029 Restoration efforts, the 44 class workdays will be held on the first Saturday and third Sunday of the month - unless otherwise noted.

The locomotive branch has decided to expand these days to the broad category of "Locomotive Workdays", which will includes a raft of various activities (all skills are catered for and NO experience necessary - there is a job for EVERYONE - so if youve never worked on train stuff, dont worry ... just bring your sense of humour and clothes you dont mind getting dirty in!)

BBQ lunch will be provided, so those interested in attending should let Paul Quinn (one of the project coordinators know) - who can be reached at isceon1980@yahoo.com so that numbers can be catered for!

The restoration of the 44 class can be likened to running a marathon where a consistent and continued effort will see us finish the race, rather than a short term sprint!

More photos taken by Stephen Preston, taken at Lithgow in October 2009 prior to the move down to Canberra, show some of the tasks to be undertaken on correcting some rust issues on the locomotive.

4468 with an uncertain future (back in the day)

Prior to acquisition by Great Northern, 4468 lived in Chullora yard with a number of other vintage 44/45/48 class engines.

This photo of Stephen Preston's in the mid 1990's shows 4468 looking somewhat forelorn near the refuelling station in Chullora.

Now The Hard Work Starts...

With the assistance of our goodmates from Goodwin Alco (complete with Lithgovian fitter), the preliminary assessment of 4468 was undertaken on Friday 4 December 2009 to see if the engine could be started.

Part of establishing 'the way forward' is to know the various conditions of all the bits of the engine.

With much exposure to grease and hot weather, engine 4468 was prepared by the fitters for starting for the first time, in a long time. A cough and splutter kicked all the build up in the exhaust stack, and then she revved back to life.

Unfortunately, whilst being able to start the engine, control system issues were noted (and added to the long list of things to be repaired) and the engine couldnt be driven very far.

Weve got a long way to go, but weve come so far in such a short time!

Anyway, here are some pics courtesy of Stephen Preston of 4468 at home in "ARHS Loco" during the Goodwin Alco Team visit.

Welcome To Your New Home 4468!

Locomotive 4468 was finally readied for moving in the last week of November 2009.

With the very greatly received assistance from our friends at Southern Shorthaul Railroad (who quite interestingly were a previous hirer of the this engine in the past!), the ARHS was able to get the first step of a two step process to bring the engine down to Canberra underway.

On Thursday 26 November 2009, in the wee hours of the morning SSR locomotive G513 headed up from Chullora yard to Lithgow Loco to do the special move down to Eveleigh.

The locomotive was moved without any hassles down to the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh to the 3801 Limited depot for a 'sleep over'.

The ARHS as part of its Xmas series of trains in November and December 2009 required the use of a second engine, and to achieve that end had already had the hire of 4833 'locked in'.

With the fortune of good timing (although i'd claim excellent planning), on the delivery run of 4833 down to Canberra on Friday 27 November 2009 to assist with the Xmas trains, locomotive 4468 was dead attached to this movement.

At around 1630 on Friday 27 November 2009, locomotive 4468 was parked in the Departure Road of the ARHS's Kingston Depot. The second step of the delivery run having been completed successfully!

Welcome 4468 to your new home!

Preparing 4468 For The Big Move to Canberra

Having acquired 4468, the next step was to plan for the engine's delivery.

During its period of storage, it was noted that a number of key parts of the engine had been removed and a small group of the locomotive branch headed up to the Lithgow Locomotive Depot on 4 & 5 November 2009 to reinstate the missing items (sourced from the ARHS parts store in Canberra).

Here we see some general pictures of locomotive 4468 parked alongside sister unit 4483 at Lithgow, whilst fitters reinstate bits brought up from Canberra.

... And Into Preservation

The ARHS-ACT historically has relied upon other organisations to assist in the provision of its motive power requirements, being limited to ownership of only 2 x 73 class engines - which are of low horse power and restrictive for any long distance operation.

Inspite of allocation of Railcorp Heritage unit 4807, the locomotive branch of the ARHS considered it an important priority for the society to actually have ownership in its own right of a mainline locomotive, which can operate at mainline line speed with a reasonable haulage capability.

In October 2008 initial enquiries were made by locomotive branch personnel with Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia as to its availability. After much back and forth, the ARHS was advised in October 2009 that it was successful with its acquisition.

The ARHS is now the proud owner of a significant piece of NSW Railways History!

Where It All Started Prior to Preservation

Locomotive 4468 (Manufacturer Serial No. G-3421-08) entered service with the New South Wales Government Railways on the 26th May 1966. The engine was manufactured by A E Goodwin Limited at its Sydney workshop.

As with all 44 Class engines of the NSWGR, its life and operation with its former NSW government owner has been wide and varied. During its life of government ownership of 28 years, the engine would have hauled all forms of trains such as freights, passenger, mail and infrastructure trains.

The engine was withdrawn by Freightcorp in 1994 and included in the 'Great Locomotive Auction' at Cardiff Workshops of the same year, however, was withdrawn from sale at the auction for retention by SRA as a Heritage Unit and to work on infrastructure trains. History has shown that the SRA plan did not ultimately come to fruition, and was sold much later on in the late 1990's to the railway company Great Northern.

Since its sale from Freightcorp, it has had a number of private owners (including Great Norther noted above), and ultimately ended up in the ownership of Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia.

During the period of private ownership, the engine operated around Sydney and regional New South Wales for many private railway freight companies on infrastructure and short haul freight trip trains. The engine also spent time in Victoria in the early "naughties" and has even spent time in South Australia operating freight trains between Port Pirie and Outer Harbour during 2004.

The engine was ultimately withdrawn in early 2007 on economic grounds where it was determined that substantial money was required to be expended to return the engine to a satisfactory condition for 'commercial hire'.

Locomotive 4468 was stored at Lithgow locomotive depot around the turntable in the yard with sister engine 4483, which was withdrawn from service at the same time.

The locomotive remained at this location until preservation with the ARHS-ACT.