From the Black Country to the Red Centre

TRAINSPOTTERS in the West Midlands in 1954 wouldn’t have found anew diesel locomotive they saw on the standard gauge main line in their Ian Allan loco-spotters’ books because it was, oddly, an Australian 3ft 6in gauge locomotive.

Although single-ended, its body shape was otherwise similar to some of the emerging British designs but its red and silver livery, ‘Commonwealth Railways’ painted boldly on its sides, and the large headlight were giveaways that this wasn’t a British Railways (BR) locomotive.

Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd (BRCW) won the Commonwealth Railways tender to build 14 NSU Class diesel-electric locomotives with a tractive effort of at least 21,000lb, and capable of operating in the extreme weather conditions experienced in the outback of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The light track – laid with 41-60lb/yard rails on the Central Australian Railway (CAR) for approximately 750