John Knowles writes:

I have several points on Rod Milne’s letter in the January 2003 ARHS Bulletin. See also Bulletins 739, May 1999 p 163; 770, December 2001, p 455; 778, August 2002, p 309.

In his original article, Rod Milne said that this short branch line to a meatworks near Townsville was available for 90 tons Diesel Electric Locomotives (DELs). The line was built to C17 standards, carried nothing heavier in steam days, and would have required strengthening to carry 90 tons DELs. As the line was privately owned and last used in 1965, it seemed distinctly odd that it should have been strengthened to carry 90 tons DELs in 1964.

QR Secretary’s file 71-48, Conveyance of Meat etc, Oolbun - Townsville, Swift Australia Ltd, item 1005723 at the Queensland State Archives, deals with the future of the branch. It makes no mention of strengthening the track on the branch, although admittedly that is not the subject of the file. QR Secretary's file 72-281 (QSA 1006250) includes forecasts made in April 1964 of the need for steam power. It says that that the Oolbun line was to be closed after 1964, and that four C17s currently needed for that line would thereby be released. No mention is made of the use of any DELs, 60 or 90 tons.

Ted Hancox wrote of a trip on the branch in the June 1965 "Sunshine Express". He said that only C17s were allowed, and that the line was expected to last only one more season (ie 1965). The October 1965 number of that journal mentions (p 5) the rail connection being built to Swifts’ new meatworks at Stuart, which was to replace the Oolbun works.

Rod Milne now says that his statement is based on loads being issued for 90 tons DELs on the line in 1964 (he does not quote the actual Weekly Notice). He has jumped to a conclusion on partial evidence. Loads were sometimes issued for various locomotive classes on certain lines on which they were not allowed to run, on the basis that the lines would possibly or probably be made available for them later. The 1967 Supplement to the Working Timetables includes loads for 90 tons DELs on the Dajarra and Kajabbi branches, but elsewhere declares those lines available for only 60 tons DELs. Rod Milne himself believes that the Dajarra and Kajabbi branches were not used by DELs heavier than 60 tons - see his note in "Sunshine Express" for June 2007. The point about 90 tons DELs on the Oolbun line is therefore - does Rod Milne have a reference to the Oolbun line being declared available for them?

Rod Milne rightly disclaims the material attributed to him in the second last paragraph in the left column of page 460 of Bulletin 770, December 2001. Where his name appears there, my manuscript used "he". The "he" applied to the late Roger Boland, mentioned in the text above and below that point. The "he" was altered to "Rod Milne" by the editors. The editors have published Rod Milne’s accusation that I misattributed something to him, but have not admitted that they were responsible for it.

Rod Milne claims that he wrote "At the time, the class widely worked trains west to Toowoomba and beyond to Warwick and Chinchilla, as it did north of Brisbane too". This is not what he said on p 165 of the May 1999 article, which was "…the class spent very much of its first decade in the south and west. At the time (the late 1950s), "Yanks" were commonly rostered on the most important trains to Toowoomba, Roma and Warwick, as well as on the main North Coast Line."

His first reference was to the south and west. My point was that from their introduction, they ran the whole of the NCL to Cairns - there were no other DELs available initially to work the Sunshine Express, Sunlander and Rockhampton Mail. Given the distance from Brisbane to Rockhampton and Cairns and the frequency of the service, the IGE DELs had to spend a good proportion of their time away from the south and west. That was true even after the English Electric DELs were introduced between July 1953 and September 1954 and other classes later.

They did indeed regularly work to Roma with the introduction of the Westlander in 1954, two Westlanders and two goods trains each way per week, as did the English Electric DELs. Their workings to Warwick were mostly in the fruit season only (during interruptions to the standard gauge line into South Brisbane in February, March and April 1954, months of fruit traffic in any case, they worked even more to Warwick with interstate freight and passenger traffic). Until 1960, they and the other 90 tons DELs were mostly seen between Toowoomba and Rockhampton, a good deal beyond Rockhampton to Cairns, and a little to Roma and Emerald, with occasional runs to Charters Towers and Warwick. This is not the same as the class spending most of its first decade in the south and west.

Rod Milne claims that I belligerently dispute the reasons he gave for the class not operating south of Warwick. He says that the simple fact of the matter is that DELs were changed over to steam at Warwick (ie on trains to Wallan-garra) to enable the optimum usage of the new DELs, to avoid having a brand new diesel sitting up at Wallan-garra awaiting a job, etc. He says that ex Warwick drivers of the era confirm that arrangement and the occasional use of the class south of Warwick. He says that this contests my statement that there was an informal ban on them working to Wallan-garra due to bridge conditions.

I do indeed dispute his facts and reasons. He might like to consider the following information which counters his assertions about what he considers to be the "simple facts of the matter". The 1953 Supplement to the Working Timetables, where locomotive loads appear, did not give loads for DELs south of Warwick. When in 1956 (Weekly Notice 2/56) loads were given for banking of DELs on the Southern Line, they were not given for south of Warwick. When running times between stations were introduced in the Working Timetables for 90 tons DELs in 1958, they were given for Toowoomba to Warwick, but not from Warwick to Wallan-garra. The same applied in the 1959 timetable. In the July 1960 timetable, however, after the Mineral Creek deviation was opened, such running times were shown for Warwick to Wallan-garra.

The Here and There section of the ARHS Bulletin for March 1960 notes that following the deviation to eliminate the Mineral Creek bridge, 90 tons DELs were then allowed south of Warwick. In his article on the History of the Southern Line in the December 1970 ARHS Bulletin, John Kerr made the same point. The note in the Bulletin in 1960 was contemporary, not relying on the memory of old drivers. I have not traced when loads were first issued for 90 tons DELs south of Warwick. (The section south of Warwick was made available for 60 tons DELs in WN 2/56.)

The minutes of the QR Commissioner’s Committee for February 1960 note in passing (p 22) that a diesel now works to Wallan-garra for fruit, the "now" implying the recent introduction of that event.

I can understand why old drivers might think that poor productivity on trains south of Warwick was the reason why the 90 ton DELs were not used south of Warwick. In the early 1950s, the fruit traffic from the stations south of Warwick for Brisbane, then at its peak, was collected in season by two trains from Wallan-garra, one clearing fruit from stations Wallan-garra to Stanthorpe inclusive, and one from stations to the north of Stanthorpe, Applethorpe to Dalveen inclusive. Each took about ten hours to reach Warwick (see the Fruit Season Timetable on pp 134 to 138 of the November 1950 Main, Southern etc Lines Working Timetables). With all the shunting at intermediate places, locomotive, rolling stock and crew productivity on these trains was indeed low. (Fruit was also loaded southbound for transhipment to interstate destinations at Wallan-garra, with the same effect.) (There is a note in Sunshine Express, December 1974, p 278, about the volume of the fruit traffic on this line.)

The Fruit Express from Warwick to Brisbane was a combination of these two trains. That happened with both steam and diesel traction on the Fruit Express. During the fruit seasons in the years 1953 to 1956, I observed DELs leave Toowoomba in the afternoons for Warwick to return late in the night of the same day with the Fruit Express. It could therefore appear that the DELs were being kept north of Warwick on account of the poor locomotive productivity on the trains picking up the fruit from the stations south of Warwick.

It is correct that everything was done in the first decade or so of DEL operation to keep the DELs on the move as much as possible, subject to there being trains for them to run, and to some extent, some interval between arrivals and departures to ensure punctuality of the latter. But there is no more reason why a DEL could not have been returned from Wallan-garra after a short interval if only it had been allowed to run there. Wallan-garra was not necessarily any less likely to have loading with which a DEL could return than say Roma or Cairns.

Consider that in 1951-52, just before DELs were introduced, there were four mail trains each way per week, and an average of 2.7 other trains per day each way on weekdays on the Warwick to Wallan-garra section. In 1959-60, just as the deviation around Mineral Creek bridge was opened, there were two or three mail trains each way per week, and an average 2.5 other trains each way per weekday (calculated from traffic train miles statistics in the QR Annual Reports). One of the regular goods trains each way daily was a through train, not shunting en route.

It was also possible to alter the timetable of goods trains to take best advantage of the availability of the DEL, even if only for one day, and that was frequently done. Indeed, it might have been useful to run the DEL to Wallan-garra to obtain some useful economy southbound, and return it to Warwick or Toowoomba on a mail train or even light engine, or vice versa, again had 90 tonners been allowed to run there.

Indeed I first came to know of the unavailability of the line south of Warwick for 90 tons DELs from staff in the General Manager’s office in Toowoomba, who would very much have liked to have used them on livestock trains to Wallan-garra. That would have allowed a considerable economy in train operating costs on account of the heavier load compared with steam, and an improvement in the productivity of the livestock wagons, which were usually in short supply at the height of the season. The maximum load with a single steam locomotive southbound (the direction of the livestock traffic) was 280 tons for a C19. With a mix of banking from Warwick to Dalveen and double heading south of Dalveen, 410 tons could be moved in one train. The load applying to the 90 tons DELs when they were eventually allowed was 450 tons. Further, with livestock trains, there was no shunting en route, the unloading was rapid, and the return with empty wagons immediate. There would have been no loss in productivity; in fact, it is harder to suggest a better use of a scarce DEL.

Those officers did not consider the ban on their working south of Warwick as informal, as Rod Milne does. To them, it was very real.

Drivers were often well informed about the sections of railway on which they worked, but if official information is missing, it is often best to approach someone directly concerned, in this case those responsible for track and bridges. Even so, it would be surprising if the Warwick drivers who were Rod Milne’s source, if asked about Mineral Creek bridge, would not remember the problems with the piers and the low speeds allowed over it, even with steam. Even the best intended of sources often benefit from prompting. (The bridge was eventually blown up in an army exercise in July 1971.)

Bill Henderson, retired Principal Design Engineer of the QR, informed me that the welding at the base of the pockets in the bogies into which the pivots fitted on these engines (at least 1210 to 1219) was defective and broke. The engines were hastily examined, and withdrawn in turn for the area concerned to be rewelded to an improved specification.

Those modifications and the increasing of the sideplay mentioned on p 459 of the December 2001 Bulletin were not large jobs, which would have kept the engines out of service for a protracted period. Something else ailed them in the second half of 1953, when according to the locomotive statistics, the number effective (available for traffic on average during a month) was very low. Allowing for the newly arrived English Electric DELs, it seems that only three of the IGEs were effective in November 1953. Nos 1212 and 1218 did very low mileages in the whole of those six months and did not run at all in January and February 1954.

Whatever the problem was, it was well and truly cured. In the third quarter of 1954, the ten averaged 11,384 miles each per month, well above the mileages produced by the English Electrics, which were in turn having their own ailments cured. Thereafter there were many months when none of the IGEs were awaiting or under repair.

The statistics show that of all the 90 tons DELs the QR owned up to 1960, the IGEs produced the greatest number of ton miles (weight of train behind the locomotive multiplied by miles run) per gallon of diesel fuel, up to 460, well above the figure for the English Electrics. At the time, the two classes did much the same work.

Rod Milne says that says that the remarks made by John Armstrong and me that the locomotives were never classified as the 1210 class is a little pedantic. He gives as his reason that the numbers carried by the class were changed so quickly that the paint barely had a chance to dry. He also refers to the later classification system and nicknames. These are not reasons, and are beside the point (ie they are smokescreens to divert attention from the need to correct what he originally wrote), because none of Rod Milne’s remarks alters the fact that they were never the 1210 or 1220 class.

The original classification and numbers lasted from October 1952 until July 1956, and the second until 1965 (see p 163 of Rod Milne’s original article), both substantial periods. So far as I observed, the paint was always dry on these engines during these periods of almost four, and ten, years respectively. As he says, after July 1956, the QR classified its DELs by the lowest number of the allotted numbers, also that these engines were always nicknamed "Yanks". I did not say otherwise. It is not pedantic to record the classification which applied to the engines for their first 3½ years. It is difficult to understand why Rod Milne should have bothered to say so.

A complete record of early QR DEL classification follows.

Until July 1956, QR diesel electric locomotives (DELs) were classified by their builder. In that month, the system of classifying them by the lowest number of the group of numbers allotted to them was introduced. As it happens, the classification of two of the four classes which existed prior to July 1956 was further altered later.

For eight months until the English Electric DELs arrived, there was no need for any classification at all. The IGE engines were referred to simply as Diesels.

References to the American or American IGE or IGE DELs and to the English Electric DELs can be found in minutes of and statistics prepared for the Locomotive Officers Committee prior to July 1956, and in Weekly Notices 8/53, 41/53 and 48/53. The English Electric DELs were often referred to in the statistics as English, in contrast to the IGEs as American.

The minutes of the Locomotive Officers Committee for May 1956 record that the Commissioner had decided that a more definite form of classification for the DELs was needed, and that numbers were to be shortly reallocated on the basis given above, which also gave the classes. In those minutes, the future 1500/1170 class was referred to as the "825 Cooper Bessemer ex Walkers". The 825 was a reference to the horsepower of the engine before derating, and Cooper Bessemer to manufacturer of the diesel engine. The locomotives were ordered from Australian General Electric, but erected by Walkers Ltd. They were always referred to in Train Notices as the Walkers DELs or the 60 tons DELs. They were the only 60 tonners before the 1956 classification was introduced. Australian General Electric were also the suppliers of the IGE locomotives, the later 1300/1150 class.

The following summarises the history of the classification of the DEL classes in existence in July 1956.

The American IGE class, originally numbered 1210 to 1222, first in service in November 1952, were classified as 1300 in July 1956, numbers 1300 to 1312, and subsequently as 1150 about June 1965, numbers 1150 to 1162. Nos 1220 to 1222 entered service only just before the 1956 reclassification.

The English Electric class, numbered 1200 to 1209, first in service in July 1953, were reclassified as 1200 in July 1956. They retained this classification and these numbers until withdrawn.

The Clyde GM class, introduced in May 1955, had numbers 1230 to 1232 when reclassified as 1400 in July 1956 and then numbered 1400 to 1402. With later additions, the class had numbers 1400 to 1412.

The Walkers class, introduced in January 1956, had numbers 1270 and 1271 when it was reclassified as the 1500 class in July 1956, numbers 1500 and 1501. With later additions, the class had numbers 1500 to 1511. In about June 1965, the engines were further reclassified as 1170, numbers 1170 to 1181.

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5 October 2005

amended 25 September and 16 October 2007 with additions to Oolbun and south of Warwick sections.