Freightliner G class locomotives in action on the Port Line | ORA Grain Trains in South Australia

The reliable V/Line G class has served their many operators well. Two such examples are currently being used by One Rail Australia, numbers 533 and 535. These two locomotives were originally built in 1988 by Clyde Engineering at their Somerton plant, were originally built for V/Line and have been sold from Freight Australia, to Pacific National, to SCT, and then currently to GWA (now ORA).

They are of a unique appearance since they are the only locomotives in Australia still painted in the GWA subsidiary "Freightliner" livery.

These locomotives usually appear on grain trains operated by ORA to regional SA, usually coupled together, like this occasion on the 6th of December, 2020 where the G class twins, 535 and 533 head their loaded train from Bowmans (4152S) through Veitch Rd at Osborne, just before the end of their journey. The ex. V/Line diesels were built by Clyde Engineering at their Somerton plant as part of the second batch of G class locomotives in 1988.

We see this train at Veitch Rd, on the ARTC Dry Creek-Pelican Point branch line, which services the bluescope steel siding near Bishop's loop, services the Port Flat yard, Mobil private sidings, and the Grain export facility and balloon loop at Outer Harbour.

The first two clips were filmed on the 10th of January, 2021, when One Rail Australia ran a loaded grain train from Gladstone (5114S) Outer Harbour, hauled by locomotives G533 and CLP17. This train left several grain hoppers at Crystal Brook to load, and picked them up after departing from Gladstone earlier in the day. On the way to Outer Harbour, the train picked up the hoppers again and then proceeded onwards on its journey to Outer Harbour.

The motive power of this trip was Ex. V/Line G class No.533 and ex. CR CL class CLP17 "Arabana", also a Clyde product, which was built in 1971 as a CL class and then rebuilt into a CLP class with HEP in 1993.

We see this train at the Hanson Rd crossing, in the northern suburb of Wingfield. This crossing is on the Pelican Point branch line, and has very unique installation with median strip gated signals. The crossing also retains white crossbucks, which are becoming increasingly rare. It features a Safetran Type 3 E bell, which is very common for almost every ARTC owned crossing in SA.

In 1996, SteamRanger was forced to move their collection onto the now isolated section of the Mt. Barker to Victor Harbour line, due to re-gauging of the Adelaide to Mt. Barker Junction line to standard gauge. Ever since, SteamRanger has operated many different trips along their section of track, over 50 miles long, with the most popular being the Cockle Train. Every year (except last year due to COVID-19 restrictions).