South Australian Railways 830 class explained

The 830 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by AE Goodwin, Auburn for the South Australian Railways between 1959 and 1966. The New South Wales 48 class and Silverton Rail 48s class are of a very similar design.

History

In 1959, the South Australian Railways placed an order for 10 Alco DL531 locomotives for use in light freight haulage, especially on branch lines where a low axle load was essential. Further orders saw the fleet built up to 44 by February 1970 with 15 narrow gauge, 12 standard gauge and 17 broad gauge examples. In February 1970, an additional unit was purchased second hand from Silverton Tramway.^[1]

In March 1978, 43 were included in the transfer of the South Australian Railways to Australian National with the other two (830 and 845) going to the State Transport Authority before also moving to Australian National. From July 1974 until December 1980 847–849, were loaned to the Public Transport Commission where they were pooled with the 48 class.^{[1] [2]}

Following the conversion of the Adelaide to Alice Springs in the early 1980s and the release of some Commonwealth Railways NJ class locomotives, beginning in April 1980, some 830s were transferred to Australian National's TasRail operation with 20 transferred by August 1986.^{[1] [3]} Withdrawals of the TasRail fleet commenced in late 1987 with only three in service by April 1989. Australian National transferred five back to South Australia while two were sold to Silverton Rail and shipped to Broken Hill.^{[1] [3] [4]} One was preserved by the Don River Railway, Devonport.^[5] The remainder were scrapped.^{[6] [7]}

In 1991, six were rebuilt as the DA class with new cabs to allow them to be used as shunters. In December 1994 two 48 class locomotives were purchased from the State Rail Authority.^[8] One was rebuilt as DA7 and the other scrapped.^[1] They were later renumbered as the 900 class.

Australian National's remaining 830 class were all included with the sale of the South Australian freight operations to Australian Southern Railroad in August 1997.

In June 2000, three were sold to ATN Access for use on grain services. All were included in the sale of the business to Pacific National in February 2004, ending up in storage during the first few years of ownership under PN. 833 was scrapped in July 2016, while 845 was given to SteamRanger Heritage Railway, arriving at their Mt Barker depot in July 2017.^[9] 838 remains stored in Junee, still wearing primer paint from its never completed overhaul.^[7]

When Australian Railroad Group was dissolved, 852 passed to QR National (later Aurizon), while the other 830s and 900 class rebuilds went to Genesee and Wyoming Australia. 852 was sold to Junee Railway Workshop in 2008 and after being overhauled returned to service in 2012.

The remaining ex-GWA 830s and 900s passed to Aurizon in 2022 as part of their purchase of One Rail Australia (GWA's successor). The last ex-GWA 830s in service operated on the Eyre Peninsula Railway, only hauling gypsum trains to Thevenard after the cessation of grain services on the Eyre Peninsula Railway in 2019. All remaining operational ex-GWA 830s at Thevenard were stored upon the arrival of 2300 class locomotives from Queensland in 2023.^[10] Some ex-GWA 900s remain as shunters at the Whyalla Steelworks.

Apart from the 2 preserved 830s, most of the operational 830s are based in NSW, usually operating services for Qube Logistics and Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

Status

The disposition of 830 class locomotives As Of Late 2024 Is as shown in the following table:

Status table

Key:	In Service	Stored	Preserved	Unknown	Scrapped

Number	Current Number	Serial Number	Entered Service	Owner	Status	Livery	Gauge	Notes
830	904	83721	Dec 1959		Operational	G&W Orange & Black With Aurizon Logos	SG	Renumbered 875, rebuilt as DA5, renumbered 904, Based At Whyalla
831	831	83722	Feb 1960	Aurizon	Stored, Dry Creek	AN Green & Gold With G&W Logos	BG
832	902	83723	Apr 1960	Aurizon	Stored, Thevenard	G&W Orange & Black	NG	Rebuilt as DA2, renumbered 902
833	833	83724	Apr 1960	Pacific National	Scrapped	AN Green & Gold	SG	Ex ATN Access
834	834	83725	May 1960	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	AN Green & Gold	NG
835	DA3	83726	May 1960	Australian Southern Railroad	Scrapped	BG	AN Green & Gold	Rebuilt as DA3, Crashed Rosewater 1997, Scrapped 2001
836	905	83727	Jun 1960	Aurizon	Stored Thevenard	NG	G&W Orange & Black	Rebuilt as DA6, renumbered 905,
837	837	83728	Jun 1960	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
838	838	83729	Jun 1960	Pacific National	Stored, Junee	SG	Primer	Ex ATN Access, Stored Ex uncompleted overhaul
839	903	83730	Jun 1960	Aurizon	Stored. Whyalla	NG	G&W Orange & Black	Rebuilt as DA4, renumbered 903
840	840	84138	May 1962	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
841	841	84139	Jun 1962	Aurizon	Stored, Dry Creek	BG	AN Green & Gold With G&W Logos
842	842	84140	Aug 1962	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
843	843	84141	Sep 1962	Pichi Richi Railway	Under Restoration, Quorn	NG	AN Green & Gold
844	844	84142	Oct 1962	SteamRanger	Preserved, Operational, Mt Barker	BG	SAR Mustard Pot	Ex One Rail Australia
845	845	84714	Oct 1963	SteamRanger	Preserved, Under Restoration, Mt Barker	BG	Primer	Ex ATN Access and Pacific National
846	846	84715	Nov 1963	Pichi Richi Railway	Preserved, Under Restoration	NG	AN green & Gold	Ex AN Tasrail and One Rail Australia
847	847	G-6016-1	Jun 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	Scrapped	NG	G&W Orange & Black
848	848	G-6016-2	Jul 1969	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	Scrapped	SG	Australian National Green & Gold With G&W Logos
849	901	G-6016-3	Sep 1969	Aurizon	Operational	SG	G&W Orange & Black	Rebuilt as DA1, renumbered T02, renumbered 901, Based At Whyalla
850	850	84136	Mar 1962	Eyre Peninsula Railway Preservation Society	Preserved, Port Lincoln	NG	G&W Orange & Black	Ex Genesee & Wyoming Australia.[11] Operated only on the Port Lincoln Division
851	851	84137	Apr 1962	Aurizon	Stored	NG	G&W Orange & Black	Operated only on the Port Lincoln Division
852	852	84716	Sep 1963	Junee Railway Workshop	Operational	SG	JRW
853	853	84717	Oct 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
854	854	84718	Sep 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
855	855	84719	Oct 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
856	856	84702	Feb 1963	Silverton Rail	Scrapped	SG	AN Green & Gold	Ex AN Tasrail
857	48s31	84703	Apr 1963	Greentrains	Scrapped	SG	Silverton Blue & Yellow	Renumbered 48s31, ex AN Tasrail
858	858	84704	May 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped	NG	AN Green & Gold
859	859	84705	May 1963	Aurizon	Stored	NG	G&W Orange & Black	Ex AN Tasrail
860	84706	May 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped
861	84707	Jun 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped
862	84708	Jun 1963	Silverton Rail	Scrapped	Ex AN Tasrail
863	84709	Jun 1963	Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre	Preserved, Peterborough	Ex Genesee & Wyoming[12]
864	84710	Jul 1963	QUBE Logistics	Operational	Renumbered 48s30, ex AN Tasrail
865	84711	Jul 1963	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	Scrapped	Ex AN Tasrail
866	84712	Jul 1963	Don River Railway	Preserved, Operational, Devonport	Ex AN Tasrail
867	84713	Aug 1963	AN Tasrail	Scrapped
868	G-6016-4	Nov 1969	Australian Railroad Group	Scrapped
869	G-6016-5	Jan 1970	Southern Shorthaul Railroad	Operational
870	G-6016-6	Jan 1970	Australian National	Scrapped
871	G-3422-1	Feb 1966	Genesee & Wyoming Australia	Scrapped	Operated only on the Port Lincoln Division
872	G-3422-2	Mar 1966	QUBE Logistics	Operational
873	873	G-3422-3	Apr 1966	Aurizon	Stored	NG	AN Green & Gold With G&W Logos	Operated only on the Port Lincoln Division
874	907	83826	Dec 1960	Aurizon	Operational	SG	G&W Orange & Black with Aurizon Logos	Ex Silverton Tramway 27 Feb 1970, rebuilt as T01, renumbered 907

Notes and References

1. Book: Oberg, Leon. Locomotives of Australia 1854-2007. 2007. Rosenberg Publishing. 978-1-877058-54-7. 308.
2. Railway Digest December 1984 page 391
3. http://www.railtasmania.com/loco/loco.php?id=830 830 Class
4. "Silverton" Railway Digest August 1990 page 286
5. http://www.donriverrailway.com.au/locomotives.html Steam & Diesel Locomotives & Railcars
6. http://www.comrails.com/sar_locos/r_830.html Broad, Standard and Narrow Gauge 830-class diesel locomotives
7. http://www.railpage.com.au/locos/class/33/ 830 Class
8. "State Rail's Locomotive Auction Results" Railway Digest January 1995 page 36
9. Web site: Did you see an engine on a semi rolling into Mt Barker today? Welcome Home 845! . Facebook . Steamranger Heritage Railway . 10 March 2023 . 10 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230310112631/https://www.facebook.com/SteamRangerHeritageRailway/posts/did-you-see-an-engine-on-a-semi-rolling-into-mt-barker-todaywelcome-home-845this/1560693000649078/ . live .
10. Web site: Wenck . David . Aurizon Investor Day Presentation . ListCorp . Aurizon Holding Limited . 29 May 2024.
11. http://www.eprps.org.au/going-loco.html
12. "Preservation & Tourist" Railway Digest May 2016 page 58