In mid 1957, the Victorian Railways called for tenders for a fleet of 25 diesel-hydraulic locomotives rated at .
Tulloch, based in
Rhodes, New South Wales, won the contract with an offer for West German-style locomotives, using a Mercedes V12 diesel engine developing which was coupled to a Krupp 2W1D46 hydraulic transmission powering the centre axle, with the leading and trailing axles powered via connecting rods. All 25 engines entered service in the year from December 1959. Instead, the final engine was converted to standard gauge and shared duties with W266. The locomotives were of the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, fitted with a 12-cylinder
Mercedes-Benz engine,
Krupp hydraulic transmission and axle-gear and
Behr hydraulic cooling equipment.
In service The class was generally allocated to Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne for short shunting trips, and one each at Ararat, Bendigo and Seymour, explicitly for yard work only. However, on the odd occasion, Seymour-based W241 was used on the
Shepparton goods, and also ran out to
Rushworth and Colbinabbin. It also made it to
Benalla a few times. The engines were initially rostered on local passenger services to Werribee and trialled on Bacchus Marsh runs, but with the low speed limit of and relatively little power, they were unable to keep to the timetable to the latter. The engines proved incredibly unpopular, due to problems with ride quality and engine reliability, and a transmission change needed to achieve mainline running speeds. The high gear setting was removed early on and the class relegated to shunting duties in an attempt to better utilise the fleet. However, the cab profile made visibility a problem in yards, and engine crews had to lean out the side to observe shunting instructions. The cab design also provided no shelter from the weather in storms or on hot days. Common failures included seized transmissions, oil leaking onto the shunters' steps creating a slip hazard, and failed engine blocks. Records of W class locomotives at Ballarat are recorded every few issues in Divisional Diary, later Newsrail; for example December 1973 (p.249).
New South Wales 71 class locomotive in 1961 Having just completed 25
diesel-hydraulic shunting
W class locomotives for the
Victorian Railways,
Tulloch Limited, with a view to receiving an order for similar units, offered the NSW Department of Railways a similar version in 1960 for a 12-month testing period. The offer was accepted and the unit was taken into service on 11 November 1960, numbered 7101. Although allocated to
Delec Locomotive Depot, all servicing was done at Tulloch Limited. No. 7101 was used on local transfer and shunting trips in the Sydney metropolitan area. It operated under conditions similar to the
70-class then in operation. In mid-1961, Tulloch Limited was experiencing operating difficulties and was unable to fulfil its obligations in regard to the hiring. 7101 was returned on 21 June 1961 and sold to Victorian Railways
Victorian use on standard gauge W266 The Victorian Railways purchased 7101 from Tulloch, had it repainted in blue and gold and renumbered as W266 and had it delivered on 4 July 1961, though it retained its ex-NSW horns. It was initially deployed on the
North East standard gauge line between
Albury and
Melbourne. It worked the first ballast trains with five gauge-converted
NN ballast hoppers. The locomotive and its ballast train arrived in Seymour on 14 January 1961, then Melbourne on 29 November the same year. and a few months later it became the dedicated shunting engine for passenger trains between the carriage sidings at South Dynon and the standard gauge platforms at Spencer Street Station. However, it disgraced itself on 28 May 1963 at 6:30pm, failing at the crest of the North Melbourne flyover and blocking interstate trains, and so was returned to freight duties, now including occasional trips between Dynon,
Somerton and
Upfield. It ran part of one tour for the
Australian Railway Historical Society (because its classmate W267 had failed) on 15 June 1964.. It was converted to broad gauge on 19 April 1969, and subsequently allocated as the new Melbourne Yard hump trimmer, sitting near the crest of the new hump ready to push wagons that failed to roll down as far as required. In this role the engine was provided with a two-way radio, giving direct communication to the new West Tower operator. By 1975 it had been absorbed into the normal W Class fleet, being sighted at North Geelong locomotive depot on Sunday . The engine was cut up during the middle of July 1981.
W267 W267 was built by Tulloch in anticipation of a further order that the Victorian Railways never actually signed. It was delivered to
Bandiana as a broad gauge engine loaded on
flat wagon QH2, formerly a
Spirit of Progress locomotive tender frame, and was sighted shunting at Spencer Street station in December 1961, testing some design alterations that ultimately proved unsuccessful. It was then taken to
Newport Workshops for conversion to standard gauge, and entered service by April 1962, initially as a freight yard pilot. As of 1975/76 there were three standard gauge shunting rosters ("pilots") in the central Melbourne area - Dynon, Upfield, and Passenger Yard, the latter allocated to W267 working day shift to sort passenger cars and assemble the interstate passenger trains at South Dynon carriage shed. This engine, or either of the other pilots if available, would also run to Spencer Street to shunt vans and Motorail wagons of the interstate arrivals and departures, and haul back arriving GM class locomotives that had been leased from the Commonwealth Railways but which did not have the ability to drive in reverse from Spencer Street back to the South Dynon engine depot. The engine remained in use on standard gauge until its last job on , the 8:55 am passenger "drop-on pilot". On return to Dynon it was intended to remove the cab and transport the underframe to Newport Workshops in a well wagon, but no wagon was available so it was reassembled and stored. Then, on , the engine was transferred to broad gauge axles, and on it was towed to Newport for longer-term storage and eventual scrapping. This made W267 the first Victorian Railways' diesel locomotive to be scrapped, other than
S314 and S316 which had been destroyed in
1969.
Modifications Engines were fitted with controls on both sides of the centre console, although that feature was removed not long after delivery. The first few engines (at least through to W244) entered service with slotted pilots similar to those of the
F class engines, but these were not provided on later builds and were gradually removed. Between 1973 and 1977, at least ten engines, starting with W249, had the Mercedes engine removed and replaced with General Motors diesel units. Engines after the first had different exhaust arrangements, but all those refitted could be identified externally by a second exhaust stack at the end of the long hood, with the original adjacent to the driving cabin plated over. The alterations raised the engine hood by but did not replace the original transmission or gearbox. As of the end of June 1976, seven engines - 241, 244, 245, 249, 252, 255 and 259 - had been fitted with the upgraded engines. ==Locomotives==