422 Class

The New South Wales 422 class were a class of diesel locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the New South Wales Government Railways in 1969/70.

History
The 422 class were introduced into service on the Main South South Coast lines where they would spend most of their New South Wales careers hauling passenger and freight services. Among the services they hauled were the Canberra Express, Intercapital Daylight, South Coast Daylight Express, Southern Aurora, Spirit of Progress and Sydney/Melbourne Express. In 1980 42220 was rebuilt by Clyde Engineering, Adelaide, receiving an AR16 alternator, a new electrical system and Super Series wheel slip technology. It was a test bed for many of the features incorporated into the 81 class. From 1982 they began to operate through to Melbourne. This ceased in February 1990 when non air-conditioned locomotives would no longer be accepted by Victorian drivers. With the formation of National Rail, the 422s were all allocated to the new interstate carrier in July 1995 pending delivery of its NR class locomotives. This saw them again frequently operating to Melbourne, albeit usually as second units and over new territory to Parkes via Forbes and from August 1996 to Brisbane. When they were returned to FreightCorp in September 1997, their Southern duties were now being handled by Class 81s so most were stored. In 1999 42202 and 42206 were sold to FreightCorp's North Coast sub-contractor, Northern Rivers Railroad passing with the business to Aurizon in May 2002. By January 2000 only 42203 and 42220 remained in service with FreightCorp these having been fitted with air-conditioning. These were retained primarily to operate CountryLink services from Sydney to Griffith and from January 2000 over new ground to Broken Hill. These were sold to CFCLA in 2001 and later rebuilt as HL203 and FL220. In May 2000 the other 16 were sold to Australian Railroad Group and transferred in one movement from Werris Creek where they had been stored to Dry Creek, Adelaide where they were gradually reactivated. Some were placed in service operating construction trains on the Alice Springs to Darwin line as well as in South Australia and Western Australia. Others returned to New South Wales on hire to other operators. It was decided to rebuild all 16 as the 22 class which among other modifications saw air-conditioning fitted, although only 14 ended up being completed. With the splitting up of Australian Railroad Group, 11 passed to Aurizon in February 2006 and 5 to Genesee & Wyoming Australia in June 2006. By November 2012 Aurizon's 2201 and 2203 had joined 42209 and 42211 in store at Forrestfield, Western Australia. In December 2012 42208 was undergoing an overhaul.