Tuesday, January 13, 2015

1957 Paxman advert featuring NSW class 41 switchers


Or shunters as they are called in A/NZ.  Ordered in 1950, the 10 standard gauge NSWGR 41 class Bo-Bo type locomotives were built by Metro-Cammell for British Thomson-Houston. They were powered by two Paxman 12RPH series II engines, each with a rating of 500 hp at 1,250 rpm. The locos' service weight was some 70 tons and maximum design speed was 57 mph (92 km/h).  They were introduced in 1953-54 to handle freight transfer traffic in the Sydney area, but owing to severe gradients, sometimes as steep as 2.5% (1 in 40), trailing loads were usually limited to 800 tons.  "Additional to freight traffic, they also handle morning and evening workmen's trains, and their cooling systems have been modified so that they can undertake long distance main line duties." It seems that as the cooling radiator was located at the front, in double-headed operations the flow of air to the second locos's radiator was largely blocked off by the leading loco.

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