ALCO 251B engine abandoned at Parkes NSW. Fri 16th July 2021

There used to be three or four of these abandoned engines lying in the paddock of old Parkes Loco back in 2018 but now only one remains. There was two up until a few months back and one vanished, they were all from Goodwin ALCO 44 class diesel electric locomotives.

More than likely they were extracted from the locomotive in the nearby workshop for reasons unknown, as to why they were dumped in the paddock is another mystery. The workshops and locomotive depot at Parkes (built 1928) have been closed for some years now. The workshops were the first to go after privatisation and all the lathes, pan-brakes, drill stands and other associated equipment have been removed, the shed virtually empty.

The depot was used for a time by Silverton (later Southern & Silverton), mainly as a locomotive storage area and sign on/off point for train crew. This activity was continued when the business was acquired by Greentrains and later Qube but they too have departed the scene and the depot remains abandoned.

Last word has it that JHCRN has leased the old depot area to Pacific National in 2018. However, Pacific National loco maintenance is conducted by Progress Rail at their workshop near the railway station and train crews either sign on near the station (Rural & Bulk) in town or at PLT (Intermodal) at Goobang Junction West.

Service roads near the depot are still used today as a "multi user" area and the locomotive fuel point and consumables provisioning area still remains active, mainly used by Pacific National and to a lesser point by Qube and SSR from time to time.

Veteran locomotive GM1, in Commonwealth Railways livery, can be seen in the background, and has sat there for the past four years slowing deteriorating in the weather and attacks by "souvenir" thieves.

The loco engine in this video is an ALCO model 251B (also known as a 12-251B) four stroke, 12 cylinder turbo super charged prime mover generating 1,950hp with 1,800hp available for traction.

There were over 180 of these engines made for the NSWGR 44 and 45 class and the South Australian Railways 930 and 600 class between 1955 and 1968 and all were made by A. E. Goodwin ALCO in Sydney NSW. The 44 class were a variant of the American model DL500B "World Series" locomotive which was also adopted by Pakistan, India, Spain and some South American railways.

A variant of this engine, designated model ALCO 12-251C was made later for the NSWGR 442 class and South Australian Railways 700 class, all made by Goodwin ALCO at Auburn NSW and rated at 2,000hp. However, markings left by fitters on the abandoned engine in this video show it to be a ALCO 12-251B extracted from a 44 class locomotive.

0900hrs Friday 23rd July 2021

[ZwartJaap]

As a project engineer I built and delivered pumpsets and gensets with the 251 F 6, 8, 12, 16 and one 18 cyl. All in the 1980-ties in NL. Offshore India as black start dieselgenset, crude oil pumps for Oman, dredging pumps, marine propulsion bollard pull 60T. All manufacturen in Auburn.

[peterhann]

Shame to see these diesel engines just dumped here rusting away

[hcrun]

"Veteran locomotive GM1, in Commonwealth Railways livery, can be seen in the background, and has sat there for the past four years slowing deteriorating in the weather and attacks by "souvenir" thieves."

That's a damn shame. That loco should have been preserved.

[rsinclair]

They cut 14 of then up at Sims Metal Tasmania 1988.

[SheltonDCruz]

Thanks Dave- thought they were 48 class engines

[louiskats]

Goodday Dave,

Any chance you can put it on your backyard & sell it to the yanks.

They would appreciate it.

Cheers

Louis 👍

[AustralianTrucksNSW]

No wonder it's sitting there, too heavy to lift and put in the back of your tray truck otherwise it would have been nicked years ago.