In 1963, the first of 25 general purpose diesel-electric locomotives was delivered by Clyde Engineering. As a cost saving measure, they were built with bogies and motors retrieved from scrapped Swing Door electric suburban train sets; the re-use of these components reduced the unit cost of the Y class locomotive from around £52,000 ($104,000) to £40,000 ($80,000).[1] Two further orders saw the class total 75 by 1968.
Although built to dieselise Victoria's shunting operations and replace steam locomotives on branch line services, they were also used on mainline goods and passenger services, including between Spencer Street and Werribee.[2]
After closure of branch lines across the state and the end of short pick-up goods trains, use of the class dropped.[3]
In the 1980s, it is thought that four Y Class locomotives were on standard gauge, typically Nos 101–104.
Withdrawals commenced from 1985 and large-scale scrappings commenced during 1991 and 1992.[3]
After the mass-withdrawals of the Y fleet up to 1992, engines 101, 102, 104, 150 and 151 were on standard gauge, as 103 had been withdrawn in the late 1980s. Y101 followed in the early '90s after suffering a collision, but it was not directly replaced.
From 1995, under the newly formed V/Line Freight division, engines Y115, Y151, Y152 and Y169 were running trains on standard gauge, and locomotives Y124 and Y142 were confined to shunting at South Dynon. Within a few years Y150 had replaced Y115 on standard gauge, with the latter engine shifting to Ballarat as a yard pilot. Around the same time, Y169 replaced Y102, and Y152 replaced Y104. These two engines were stored at Newport workshops, then transferred to South Dynon's "rotten row" where they sat for about a decade.
Only two engines—Y152 and Y165—were repainted into the V/Line Freight scheme, which was essentially the same as previous with a new decal and a lighter grey.
The 1999 sale of V/Line Freight to Freight Victoria included engines 110, 113, 115, 118–119, 121–122, 138, 150–152, 157, 165, 169, 171 and 174.[4] Some of these were upgraded by 2002 using traction motors and gear sets cascaded from the Freight Australia A and X Class locomotive upgrades, permitting operation at 80 km/h. This required replacing the original plain whitemetal axle boxes; in the short term they were modified but eventually they were all replaced with custom units, obviating the need for fortnightly lubrication of the bearings. Air conditioning was also fitted.[5]
On the 17/2/2013 a mass move of Y class occurred to Newport to be distributed to various heritage operators, locomotives on the train consisted of Y127/VAN/Y102/Y143/Y104/Y108/Y125
Today, four are in service with V/Line as carriage yard shunters and fitted with low speed controls,[6] with others owned by freight operator Pacific National.[7][8][9] Seventeen units are officially preserved, though only a handful of those are operational.
As per all VR locos that ever carried the number "111" was known as "Lord Nelson" by Drivers and Fitters (1 x eye; 1 x arm; 1 x bottom). Had A7-EL Automatic Brake handle in cab (instead of No.4; Independent was a Westinghouse "W" type self lapping brake as per other Y class) but did NOT have full A7EL brake equipment.
FIRST Diesel-Electric Commissioners' Locomotive. Only geared as standard for 40 M.P.H. / 65 km/h. Interior of cab painted non-standard plain white for Commissioners' Train use. Replaced steam locomotive D3 639 (really D3 658) until arrival of 60 M.P.H. geared Y 175 in August 1968. Commissioners' Driver at change-over from steam to diesel was Tommy Donnelly.
Downgraded to "standard" Y class 65 km/h gearing circa 1980 when T class locomotives (399, 400, 403, 406, 410) took over Commissioners' Train role. Was only Y fitted with a 64 Volt power outlet (above main reservoir on Driver's side) for powering batteries on Norman Car on Commissioners' Train overnight).
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Hewison, P, Kimpton, R. (2002) Freight Australia's Rollingstock Initiatives, Conference on Railway Engineering, Wollongong, 10–13 November 2002, p.294-295
