Newell Highway
The Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales, Australia. The route is signed as the A39, however before 2013 was signed as National Highway 39; the Newell Highway is an important road link for freight between Queensland and Victoria and regional centres in western NSW. At 1,058 kilometres in length, the Newell is the longest highway in New South Wales, passes through fifteen local government areas. Traffic volumes along the Newell Highway vary from around 1,200 to 4,000 vehicles per day in rural areas. In the urban centres such as Dubbo, average daily traffic volumes are in the order of 20,000 vehicles a day. A large number of heavy vehicles use the Newell Highway – on average, between 26 per cent and 52 per cent of all traffic on the route. At one point in the south west of the state, the highway carries 1,900 vehicle movements daily, of which about 32 per cent are heavy vehicles; the Newell Highway carries the National Highway 39 shield for its entire length. The highway is flat, with long, straight sections joined by the occasional curved section.
However, passing through the Warrumbungle Ranges, there are steeper grades and tighter curves than on the rest of the highway. Open road sections of the Newell Highway are 110 km/h zones; the Newell Highway serves as a major road link between Brisbane. The highway runs north-south, parallel to the eastern coast of New South Wales, about 400 kilometres inland, is the main inland direct road link from Victoria to Queensland, bypassing the more urbanised and congested coastal areas of the state. From its northern terminus at Goondiwindi in Queensland where it meets the Leichhardt Highway, the Newell runs to the south across the New South Wales and Queensland state border through Boggabilla, Narrabri, Gilgandra, Parkes, West Wyalong, Narrandera and Finley; the Newell meets its southern terminus at Tocumwal where the highway crosses the Murray River and adjoins the Goulburn Valley Highway in Victoria. The highway crosses eight major inland rivers, from north to south, the Macintyre between Goondiwindi and Boggabilla, the Mehi at Moree, the Namoi near Narrabri, the Castlereagh at Coonabarabran and at Gilgandra, the Macquarie at Dubbo, the Lachlan and Lake Forbes at Forbes, the Murrumbidgee at Narrandera, the Murray River at Tocumwal.
The Newell Highway is subject to periodic flooding north of Moree, at Dubbo, south of Narrandera. At various points on its route, the Newell shares part of its route with other highways including, from north to south, the Gwydir at Moree, the Kamilaroi near Narrabri, the Oxley and Castlereagh between Coonabarabran and Gilgandra, the Mitchell at Dubbo, the Mid-Western between Marsden and West Wyalong, the Riverina near Finley; the Newell was declared a State Highway in 1938, numbered No. 17, named in honour of H. H. Newell following his death in 1941. At the time of its gazettal, the Newell Highway followed existing roads as far as possible, the exceptions being between Narrandera and West Wyalong and from Coonabarabran to Narrabri completed during 1941-42 and 1946-49 as wartime and post-war defence projects. Between 1965 and November 1992 the Newell Highway carried the National Route 39 black and white shield and despite its misnomer as a national route, the highway was a patchwork of other national and state highways, funding of the highway was in the main the responsibility of the NSW Government.
Following the passage of the Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988 on 15 January 1993 the Australian Government gazetted the Newell as a national highway and assumed funding and administrative responsibility. A large number of non-reflective signs along the highway have reflective NH39 coverplates, a clear indication that they once showed NR39. Highways in Australia List of highways in New South Wales List of highways in Queensland Bland Creek Bridge "Draft Newell Highway Corridor Strategy". Roads & Maritime Services, Government of New South Wales. April 2014
Australian National Railways Commission
The Australian National Railways Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia, a railway operator between 1975 and 1998. It was known as Australian National Railways in its early years, before being rebranded as Australian National. Australian National Railways was established by the Whitlam Federal Government following a commitment made in the 1972 election to invite the states to hand over their railway systems to the federal government. On 1 July 1975 Australian National Railways was formed taking over the operations of the Federal Government owned Commonwealth Railways; the State Governments of South Australia and Tasmania whose railway systems were in debt, accepted. During the next two years discussions between these two states and the federal government resulted in a number of staffing and operating agreements being made that resulted in all South Australian Railways services and all Tasmanian Government Railways services transferring to Australian National Railways in March 1978, the latter being rebranded AN Tasrail.
Overnight Australian National Railways went from an organisation controlling just over 2,000 kilometres of track with a total staff of 4,000 employees to the operator of 20% of Australia's rail network. It now controlled 7,890 kilometres of rail track being 2,395 km of broad gauge, 2,812 km of standard gauge and 2,683 km of narrow gauge track; the narrow gauge track included 851 km in Tasmania and 748 km on South Australia's isolated Eyre Peninsula Railway. The remainder of the narrow gauge tracks were two short lines in the Mid North of South Australia radiating from Peterborough and Gladstone and the famous Ghan line from Marree to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; the total number of employees numbered just over 12,000. Australian National Railways was a federal government owned corporation and, in 1978 the Fraser Government made it clear it was expected to achieve a financial break-even point during the next 10 years; this decision was unique in Australia's railway history because with the exception of Commonwealth Railways, all the State systems were running at a loss, being financially supported by their respective governments.
The Commission appointed a professional engineer with overseas experience as General Manager in a break from the traditional railway practice of making such appointments from within the organisations. The Commission's first Corporate Plan in 1979 set out six ways that the Commission was to pursue if it was to survive; these were: concentrating its marketing drive on bulk traffic, inter-capital freight and major city freight seeking agreement to cease services where there is little or no demand for the services rationalisation of services and withdrawal of services not demanded implement technological changes in all areas of railway operation track maintenance acquire larger and more efficient locomotives and rolling stock to operate trains at maximum capacity pursue a vigorous policy directed towards staff reductions and more efficient use of manpowerIn 1980, a delegation of senior staff and led by the General Manager visited North America to examine current railway practices. In Canada the delegation had talks with Canadian Pacific Railway.
In the United States contact was made with Southern Pacific Railroad. The areas looked at included marketing and pricing and planning, engineering and staff training. On 12 March 1980, a new green and yellow corporate identity was launched with GM1 the first locomotive painted. In October 1980, a new standard gauge line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs opened replacing the narrow gauge Central Australian Railway which closed in December 1980. In December 1982, the Adelaide to Crystal Brook line was converted to standard gauge. Ownership of the Queanbeyan to Canberra railway line was transferred to the State Rail Authority in May 1985. Australian National Railways inherited the following diesel locomotive classes: Commonwealth Railways standard gauge: DE, GM, CL Commonwealth Railways narrow gauge: NC, NSU, NT, NJ South Australian Railways: 350, 500, 600, 700, 800, 830, 900, 930 Tasmanian Government Railways: X, Y, Z, ZaBuilt new for Australian National were the AL, BL, DL, EL and AN classes all for standard gauge use.
Purchased were five T class locomotives from V/Line in 1993 that were reclassed as CKs. In 1986, a new computer system required the class leaders of the former South Australian Railways to be renumbered as the last member of the class, e.g. 600 became 607. Australian National operated passenger services within South Australia using Bluebird railcars. In December 1986, Australian National reintroduced services to Whyalla and Broken Hill using CB railcars; the remaining services were withdrawn in 1990. It operated The Ghan, it operated the Indian Pacific in partnership with the Public Transport Commission and Westrail and The Overland in partnership with the Victorian Railways. It took over the running of these services in full in February 1994 respectively. Australian National operated the Trans Australian until June 1991 and The Alice between November 1983 and mid-1988. Australian National entered a joint venture with National Rail to operate Roadrailers under the Trailerail brand. In November 1994, the first service commenced operating between Adelaide and Perth followed in November 1995 by a service from Adelaide to Melbourne.
In 1996, Australian National withdrew from the joint venture with National Rail taking over its share. Following the formation of National Rail, Australian National's interstate freight operations and rolling stock were transferred in 1994. In November 1996, the Federal Government announced a major rail refor
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2, comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, is the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, it has a population of 4.9 million, its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians". The city was founded on 30 August 1835, in the then-British colony of New South Wales, by free settlers from the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837 and named in honour of the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. In 1851, four years after Queen Victoria declared it a city, Melbourne became the capital of the new colony of Victoria. In the wake of the 1850s Victorian gold rush, the city entered a lengthy boom period that, by the late 1880s, had transformed it into one of the world's largest and wealthiest metropolises.
After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as interim seat of government of the new nation until Canberra became the permanent capital in 1927. Today, it is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 15th in the Global Financial Centres Index; the city is home to many of the best-known cultural institutions in the nation, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the National Gallery of Victoria and the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. It is the birthplace of Australian impressionism, Australian rules football, the Australian film and television industries and Australian contemporary dance. More it has been recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a global centre for street art, live music and theatre, it is the host city of annual international events such as the Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open and the Melbourne Cup, has hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Due to it rating in entertainment and sport, as well as education, health care and development, the EIU ranks it the second most liveable city in the world.
The main airport serving the city is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia, Australia's busiest seaport the Port of Melbourne. Its main metropolitan rail terminus is Flinders Street station and its main regional rail and road coach terminus is Southern Cross station, it has the most extensive freeway network in Australia and the largest urban tram network in the world. Indigenous Australians have lived in the Melbourne area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years; when European settlers arrived in the 19th-century, under 2,000 hunter-gatherers from three regional tribes—the Wurundjeri and Wathaurong—inhabited the area. It was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and a vital source of food and water; the first British settlement in Victoria part of the penal colony of New South Wales, was established by Colonel David Collins in October 1803, at Sullivan Bay, near present-day Sorrento. The following year, due to a perceived lack of resources, these settlers relocated to Van Diemen's Land and founded the city of Hobart.
It would be 30 years. In May and June 1835, John Batman, a leading member of the Port Phillip Association in Van Diemen's Land, explored the Melbourne area, claimed to have negotiated a purchase of 600,000 acres with eight Wurundjeri elders. Batman selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village" before returning to Van Diemen's Land. In August 1835, another group of Vandemonian settlers arrived in the area and established a settlement at the site of the current Melbourne Immigration Museum. Batman and his group arrived the following month and the two groups agreed to share the settlement known by the native name of Dootigala. Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines was annulled by Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales, with compensation paid to members of the association. In 1836, Bourke declared the city the administrative capital of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, commissioned the first plan for its urban layout, the Hoddle Grid, in 1837.
Known as Batmania, the settlement was named Melbourne in 1837 after the British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, whose seat was Melbourne Hall in the market town of Melbourne, Derbyshire. That year, the settlement's general post office opened with that name. Between 1836 and 1842, Victorian Aboriginal groups were dispossessed of their land by European settlers. By January 1844, there were said to be 675 Aborigines resident in squalid camps in Melbourne; the British Colonial Office appointed five Aboriginal Protectors for the Aborigines of Victoria, in 1839, however their work was nullified by a land policy that favoured squatters who took possession of Aboriginal lands. By 1845, fewer than 240 wealthy Europeans held all the pastoral licences issued in Victoria and became a powerful political and economic force in Victoria for generations to come. Letters patent of Queen Victoria, issued on 25 June 1847, declared Melbourne a city. On 1 July 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales to become the Colony of Victoria, with Melbourne as its capital.
The discovery of gold in Victoria in mid-1851 sparked a
National Rail NR class
The NR class are a class of Australian diesel locomotive built by A Goninan & Co for National Rail between 1996 and 1998. They are operated by Pacific National; the QR National 5000 class locomotives, all the C44aci model locomotives build by UGL Rail at Broadmeadow adopted the design from the NR Class, but with a variety of features to set them apart from each other and the NR Class locomotives. Upon commencing operations in April 1993 the National Rail inherited a diverse collection of rolling stock to operate interstate freight operations in Australia; the fleet included locomotives of mixed age and power leased from FreightCorp, V/Line and Australian National. In September 1995 A Goninan & Co were awarded a contract for 120 locomotives from National Rail which were built at their Broadmeadow and Bassendean factories; the frames were built at Hexham and the bogies at Goninan's Landsdowne Engineering subsidiary in Taree. The first locomotive to be completed was NR61 which performed its first trial on 18 September 1996 between Midland and Jumpakine.
The first Broadmeadow built unit first ran on 23 September 1996. The first units were delivered without National Rail branding or logos, but units were delivered in full livery. Testing of the units was carried out on the NSW Main Northern line between Werris Creek and Maitland using ballast wagons and 442 class locomotives in dynamic braking mode as dynamic loads; each locomotive was required to accumulate 10,000 km of trouble free running before acceptance. In February 1998 Broadmeadow delivered the last NR class; as part of its contract, A Goninan & Co was required to maintain the fleet. A depot was built alongside the Newport to Sunshine railway in the western Melbourne suburb of Spotswood for this. With the arrival of the class, National Rail was able to return leased units to their owners, including 422, 80, 81, 82 class locomotives to FreightCorp, 442s and 48s class locomotives to Silverton Rail; the V/Line C class and new EL class were withdrawn. Once all 120 units were delivered, National Rail retained the AN, BL and DL class locomotives, along with thirteen 81 class and several hired G class.
The new locomotives were placed on time sensitive trains first. When first delivered, the NR class were banned from running in New South Wales by the Environment Protection Authority due to excessive noise when under dynamic braking but the ban was lifted after further testing; the class could not lead on the Victorian standard gauge network due to the lack of suitable radio equipment. In years NR76 to NR98 were provided with V/Line Section Authority System equipment to work the Western standard gauge line, while NR1 to NR13 and NR61 to NR72 were fitted with V/Line radios to operate on the Victorian North East line. Great Southern Rail contracted National Rail to haul its services, the first train running with NR77 on 1 November 1997. All were included in the sale of National Rail to Pacific National in February 2002. NR3 was involved in an accident at Robertson that killed two crew members, it was rebuilt as NR121. In June 2006 NR33 was involved in level crossing incident, being the third locomotive on a Melbourne to Adelaide freight service, behind DL40 and NR52.
It was subsequently scrapped. On 30 January 2009 train 5PS6 derailed on a washaway near Golden Ridge, just east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Locomotives NR35 and NR51 finished up on their sides, badly damaged, spent several years out of service before the decision was made to repair them. On 3 April 2016 NR8 was involved in a fire at Cardiff NSW; the locomotive was rebuilt during 2016. NRs 48 and 81 had suffered similar fires several years earlier, both being repaired but without the Pacific National signage on their hood sides. On 21 April 2016, 3MP5 a Melbourne to Perth intermodal freighter derailed near Rawlinna in Western Australia; the two locomotives, NR34 and NR50, were badly damaged, but NR34 was rebuilt and returned to service in late 2016. NR50 has been rebuilt with its last photographed sighting being at Millswood, South Australia on August 24, 2017; the NR Class introduced many new features. These were the first locomotives in Australia to have "variable horsepower", which meant that the power output of the engine had three different settings, making the NR class the most fuel-efficient locomotives in Australia.
They have GE 7FDL-16 engines, with power levels of 2,850 hp, 3,560 hp or 4,020 hp, mass of 132 t, a Co-Co wheel arrangement and a maximum speed of 115 km/h. The NR Class cab was designed taking into consideration the results of an extended consultative process with the end users; this has resulted in a cab, well accepted. The layout of the control stand evolved from a British Rail Class 60 cab, is different from the more common AAR type I and Type II cabs; the design is a long hood unit locomotive, with only one cab but two separate sets of controls, which allow it be driven either "A" or "B" end leading. This locomotive had to pass all tests, such as being able to shunt if required, drive "long end leading" if needed, allow drivers to do checks on fuel and sand. Despite the twin controls, operation of the class "B" end leading is avoided, with single NR classes being turned on turntables to ensure they face the correct way. In 2013 UGL Rail, Spotswood fitted NR17 with ECP/WDP braking systems for use on quarry traffic in New South Wales.
It was reclassified as NRE17 during December of that year, but that code was reverted quickly and more recent photos indicate the normal code. The cabside decals of NR120 were altered to permit addition of the "E", but there is no evidence tha
V/Line A class
The A class are a class of diesel locomotives rebuilt from B class locomotives by Clyde Engineering, Rosewater for V/Line in 1984-1985. The class were rebuilt from B class locomotives constructed in the 1950s, as part of the New Deal reforms of passenger rail operations in Victoria; the rebuild contract was let in January 1983 to Clyde Engineering, Rosewater with the first locomotive entering service in May 1984, but the project was abandoned in mid 1985 after rising costs due to structural fatigue, with the 11th rebuild delivered in August 1985. It was decided to instead built more of the N class locomotives, mechanically similar to the A class; the major difference was the addition of head end power generators, as it was believed this was a more efficient way of supplying power for air-conditioning and lighting than power vans or individual generator sets under carriages. Four locomotives were named after Australian rules football players in September 1984, while A60 was named after former railway commissioner Harold Clapp.
In July 1986, A85 was regeared for 160 km/h operation, tested between Glenorchy and Lubeck, to test an H type carriage set fitted with high speed bogies, but was returned to the standard 133 km/h gearing soon after. In preparation for the privatisation of V/Line, four were allocated to passenger services and seven to freight services. V/Line withdrew their fleet with A60 operating the final service, the 16:15 Southern Cross to Bacchus Marsh on 24 April 2013. V/Line subsequently returned A66 and A70 with the both since withdrawn. Pacific National withdrew its last examples in May 2014. Between 7 and 18 January 2019, Pacific National units A73, A77, A81 and A85 were dismantled and disposed of at South Dynon broad gauge turntable; the class were delivered in the V/Line tangerine scheme. In February 1988 A66, painted in a green and gold livery to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary appearing in a second special livery to advertise the Melbourne bid for the 1996 Olympic Games. Today the class appears in either the 1995 red and blue or 2008 red and yellow V/Line Passenger liveries, or the green and yellow Freight Australia livery with Pacific National logos.
Media related to V/Line A class at Wikimedia Commons
Australian Transport Network
Australian Transport Network was a freight railway operator in Australia that commenced operating in November 1997. The company operated narrow gauge trains in Tasmania and standard gauge trains in New South Wales and Victoria, it was formed as a joint venture with Tranz Rail owning 67% and Wisconsin Central 33%. In February 2004, ATN was sold to Pacific National. In August 1997, ATN was announced as the successful bidder for Australian National's Tasrail operation in Tasmania with the handover occurring on 1 November 1997. In 1998, Tasrail purchased the Emu Bay Railway from Pasminco; the president of Wisconsin Central, Ed Burkhardt dispatched Mark Rosner to Australia to take control in Tasmania. Amongst Rosner's achievements was the implementing of a new condensed Operating Rule Book, which eliminated some more complex practices in favour of vastly simplified procedures. Single car roadside freight was resumed where customers required it in line with US short line practice. On sections of the main trunk line north of Hobart, moving block train spacing managed over train radio replaced fixed block train order working introduced under Australian National.
ATN inherited a fleet of Alco and English Electric locomotives from Australian National and Walkers diesel-hydraulics from Emu Bay Railway. In line with Wisconsin Central's preference for Electro-Motive Diesel products, 15 DQ class locomotives, rebuilt at Hutt Workshops from 1960s built Queensland Rail 1460 and 1502 class locomotives were transferred from Tranz Rail in 1998/99 along with DC4588. Two rebuilt Westrail D class locomotives were forwarded from Tranz Rail in August 2001. In conjunction with a new train radio system, in June 1998 the entire locomotive fleet was renumbered. At this stage 31 locomotives were operated. On the mainland, ATN Access was formed to bid for freight work. In 1999 a contract was awarded by the Australian Wheat Board to haul 300,000 tonnes of grain per annum from the Riverina and Dimboola regions to Port Kembla and Appleton Dock with operations commencing in June 2000. ATN Access purchased seven L class locomotives from Westrail in July 1999 with four being overhauled by National Railway Equipment Company, Whyalla.
In June 2000, three 830 class locomotives were purchased from Australian Southern Railroad. These were supplemented by locomotives hired from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and Great Northern Rail Services. ATN Access imported 44 new grain wagons from China; these were constructed at the Qiqihar Railway Workshops in Northern China
V/Line G class
The G Class are a class of diesel locomotive built by Clyde Engineering and Somerton for V/Line between 1984 and 1989. By the early 1980s the first generation diesels purchased by the Victorian Railways were nearly 30 years old, with an average fleet age of 20 years. In addition 70% of the fleet was of 1,000 horsepower or less, a consequence of the large number of branch lines in the state. Rationalisation of the rail freight task had been carried out, with small freight consignments being consolidated to'freight centres' from 1976. Moves had been made towards the operation of block trains carrying a single commodity, rather than trains carrying a wider variety of freight. Grain became the major commodity carried by rail in Victoria, with the consulting arm of Canadian National commissioned by VicRail in 1983 to find ways of improving efficiency. Recommendations carried out included increasing train sizes to 50 bogie wagons and closing a number of branch lines. At the same time Australian National had placed an order with Clyde Engineering, Rosewater for 10 BL class locomotives, with an option for a further five.
VicRail's chairman Alan Reiher, stepped in and negotiated for the five to be completed for the newly formed V/Line. The new diesels had a much higher axle load than the smaller T and Y class diesels used on branch lines, with these lines either being upgraded to carry heavier trains or closed; these were all delivered in late 1984. A second order was placed for ten further units; the first five were built with standard gauge bogies being delivered via Sydney. Over the next few years members of the second batch would swap gauges as needs dictated. In July 1986 through running without changing locomotives at Albury began with G class locomotives operating through to Sydney. Two further contracts for eleven and seven broad gauge units had brought the fleet up to 33 by November 1989; the first 15 were built at Clyde Engineering's, Rosewater factory with the balance built at Somerton. Although intended for hauling freight services, they were used on passenger trains such as the Intercapital Daylight and Sydney/Melbourne Express.
They hauled broad gauge passenger trains. When National Rail commenced operating interstate services in the mid 1990s seven were leased by V/Line pending the delivery of the NR class; the class were used on the first operated train on government tracks in Australia, operated by SCT Logistics with V/Line locomotives and crews between Melbourne and Adelaide on 13 July 1995. This was extended through to Perth from October 2000. All 33 were included in the sale of V/Line Freight to Freight Victoria in March 1999. On 26 November 1999 G517 and G518 were destroyed in a head-on collision at Ararat between an eastbound grain train and a stationary ballast train. Freight Australia commenced a program of engine upgrades purchasing new engines for some of the G class, with the old engines being used to repower X class locomotives recoded the XR class. In the early 2000s Freight Australia was contracted to move freight between Melbourne and Sydney for CRT Group; the contract contained a clause that if Freight Australia was acquired by a competitor of CRT Group, 10,000 hp of locomotive power was to be transferred to CRT Group.
As a result, when Freight Australia was acquired by Pacific National in 2004, G516 and G534 were transferred to CRT. They were included in the sale of CRT Group to QR National in 2005. A condition imposed by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission on Toll Holdings taking control of Pacific National was that nine locomotives be sold to SCT Logistics; this resulted in nine G class passing to SCT Logistics in February 2007. By mid 2008 SCT Logistics had received new locomotives, their G classes were sold to the Australian Wheat Board, Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and Southern Shorthaul Railroad. Pacific National's fleet operate on both the broad and standard gauges, with the latter operating in New South Wales. In April 2018, with Aurizon closing down its intermodal business, G516 and G534 were sold to the Linx Cargo Care Group; the G class featured imported General Motors-Electro-Motive Division technology on a locally designed frame and body. Major advances introduced with the class included cab air conditioning, onboard toilet, Trimount type high adhesion bogies, Super Series wheel creep control to enable heavier loads to be hauled.
The locomotives were designed to be of minimum mass. The body consists of two side trusses with load bearing supports and integral cabs; the side panels are made of fibreglass for the minimum weight, with various accessories mounted in removable roof hatches. The first five units were fitted with carbody pressurisation, as fitted to many other Australian National locomotives for operation in the dusty outback areas they operated in. Differences in the subsequent units included the fitting of double blade windscreen wipers, lowering of the multiple-unit jumper receptacle, the changing of the marker light orientation from vertical to horizontal. Recent years have seen many of the class fitted with on line refuelling, working from Melbourne to Perth on the SCT Logistics service. Auscision Models has announced a future project including G Class Mark 1 locomotives - G511, 512 in early V/Line orange/grey and Freight Australia green/yellow, 513 and 514 in late V/Line orange/grey, Specialised Container Transport red/white and Southern Shorthaul Railroad yellow/black, 515 in Freight Victoria green/yellow and
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