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ZB Class

Classes:
TGR & AN ATN & PN
U DQ
V A
W QR
X & XA DC
Y D
Z DV
ZA MKA
830 2050
DP13 TR
ZB EBR
ZC No. 21
Linmac No. 22
ZR & ZP 10
  11
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ZB1 assists in demonstrations of the RoadRailler units at a public open day at the East Tamar Worksh

Sixteen 2350 and 2370 class locomotives were built from 1973 for coal haulage on the Queensland Railways, the major differences in the two classes being a single driving position in the later group of four locos. Following mainline electrification in Queensland the locomotives became surplus to requirements and were sold to AN and gradually shipped to Tasmania in 1987 and 1988. They were then classed ZB, and renumbered in the same order as their original Queensland numbers (see table below). In Tasmanian service, the ZB class displaced most of the remaining 830 classand any remaining mainline vacuum braked services. They were able to be used in multiple with the older ZC class when these locomotives were purchased from Queensland. Whilst high powered and generally well performing, the ZB class became a victim of the reduction in maintenance in the dying days of AN, and the anti-EE bias of the new private ownership, and the locos received minimal maintenance and their usage curtailed. Despite this, many consider their finest hours being toward the end of the AN era when four loco regularly hauled 70 wagons north from Hobart of an evening.

Some locomotives ran in the Queensland blue and white colours for up to five years before being repainted in the AN colour scheme (generally green and yellow, although ZB12 received the reversed Yellow and green livery). Three locos have been written off and scrapped due to accident damage, while ZB9 and ZB6 have been rebuilt to ZR/ZP class. In late 2002, three operational locos and one non-operational loco were sold to South Spur Rail in Perth, Western Australia. Locos 2120, 2125 and 2129 we shipped shipped to Perth at a rate of one per month in early 2003, while 2124 was purchased for parts and was stripped and scrapped in Tasmania in April 2004. After a productive time in Western Australia, the locos were scrapped in May 2016

ZB12 was experimentally painted yellow in 1992, with the remaining serviceable locomotives at the time being repainted yellow from late 1996. During 1998, locos 2122 and 2123 were modified to allow the loco to be driven in either direction for single unit operation. From June 1998, all operational ZB locomotives were renumbered to the 2120 series. The remaining stored/stripped locos were scrapped in 2011 and 2012, leaving three operational (2122, 2123 and 2128) and one stored locomotive (2121) in Tasrail ownership. They were mainly used on ballast trains and as shunt locos at East Tamar and Boyer until withdrawal in the first half of 2014 prior to disposal. After many years of storage, 2123 was delivered to Diesel Traction Tasmania (by now trading as Launceston and North East Railway) in May 2022, having been substituted for the originally requested 2122. 2128 followed to the Don River Railway in 2023, whilst the remaining locomotives remain in store at East Tamar workshops.

Preservation

Details

Other identities

Previous IdentityClass & NumberATN NumberPost Identity
2350 ZB12120  
2351 ZB22121  
2352 ZB32122  
2353 ZB4  
2354 ZB52123  
2355 ZB6 ZR2 
2356 ZB7  
2357 ZB82124  
2358 ZB9 ZR1 
2359 ZB102125  
2360 ZB11  
2361 ZB122126  
2370 ZB132127  
2371 ZB142128  
2372 ZB152129  
2373 ZB16  

Class photos, sounds and video

There are 38 matching items

Plan of ZB class from the drivers manual
Still carrying its Queensland Railway's number and fittings, 2371S sits outisde the Launceston works
Still an orphan, ZB14 waits between duties at the Launceston loco depot, May 1987
With ZB11 released to traffic only a week before, the first two ZB locos (ZB14 and ZB11) and Western
In the late 1980s the Launceston diesel workshops often had the appearance of a Queensland Railways
In December 1987 ZB5 and ZB12 head No. 9 Conara Junction to Boyer log/coal train over the Inglewood
The last of the class to arrive in Tasmania, 2372 sits on the wharf at Hobart having just been drive
ZB15 and ZB16, the last two of the class to enter service in Tasmania, were the only ZB locos not to
After the first two repaints the grey painted roof was replaced by green, with ZB6 being the first o
In the days when ZB locos were blue and Powranna was still a crossing loop, the crews of northbound
ZB5 & and another ZB lead a empty coal train near Fingal, late 1980s
ZB5 & and another ZB lead a loaded coal train near Fingal, late 1980s
ZB7 and siblings shunt Hobart yard during July 1989
ZB12 was the only ZB not to be repainted AN green, becoming the prototype for the newly adopted Tasr
After an engine room fire three months earlier, a decrepit looking ZB9 sits on workshops bogies in
Prior to the full-scale rebuild to ZR2, the relatively intact remains of ZB6 are shunted around East
ZB1 assists in demonstrations of the RoadRailler units at a public open day at the East Tamar Worksh
Flanked by a pair of ZC class, ZB2 waits at the head of train 116 before heading north from Hobart,
A somewhat battered looking ZB12 waits to leave Hobart as the trailing loco on train 116, December 1
Prior to being repainted yellow, ZB13 sits at East Tamar in white undercoat, December 1996
ZB10 sits outside the Quick-Fix at East Tamar, December 1996
Freshly repainted ZB8 waits for departure time at Hobart on a Burnie bound train, December 1996
Freshly released ZB10 shows it clean yellow paint at the head of train 116 in Hobart, January 1997
Freshly repainted ZB10 waits for departure time at Burnie on a Hobart bound train, January 1997
ZB2124 was sold for parts to Western Australia's South Spur Rail and was scrapped at East Tamar work
2121 and 2128 haul empty log train 568 at Doctors Rocks. October 2003
ZB2122 is towed from Hobart on train 638 behind a pair of DQ class, October 2004
ZB2126 waits at East Tamar workshops between runs, January 2005
ZB2123 leads a rake of empty coal wagons through Glenorchy. The wagons would be added to a northboun
ZB2123 leads train 166 through Granton with a load of pine logs and container wagons bound for the p
ZB4 remains stored at East Tamar as a source of spare parts for the remainder of the EE powered flee
ZB2123 hauls train 4XN across the Brighton bridge, February 2006
ZB2122 hauls train 541 near Andover, March 2006
ZB2121 sits outside East Tamar workshops, December 2008
ZB2121 sits outside East Tamar workshops, December 2008
ZB2122 waits between runs at East Tamar workshops
For staff safety, all operational locomotives had handrails fitted along the running boards by mid 2
The main control stands of ZB2128 in February 2013. On the left hand stand are the old style radio a

 

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