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EE Baguley, UK
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EM Baldwin
EM Baldwin, makers of industrial equipment based in Castle Hill NSW, was almost a backyard operation. They entered the cane field locomotive market modestly with a number of new and rebuilt 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 units, beginning with a unit for South Johnstone Mill in 1961 that was later numbered 18 on the fleet roster.
In 1965 the firm delivered 0-6-0 DH Bli Bli to Moreton Mill at Nambour. Here was a locomotive designed to offer better competition to market dominators Clyde and Comeng. Between 1965 and 1972 thirteen more 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 units followed, but Baldwin was still struggling to make inroads. In 1972 it delivered the first bogie locomotive to the industry in the form of Kilrie to Kalamia Mill. Although the unit and subsequent bogie units exhibited teething problems, here was finally the tool with which Baldwin would almost take over the market. Between 1978 and 1983 the company had no competitors in the market.
Baldwin's final cane field delivery was Tully 7 in 1983, and by that time the company had delivered forty five bogies locomotives to the Australian sugar industry. In addition, one 2-2-0, one 4-2-0, sixteen 0-4-0, and thirteen 0-6-0 units made it into the market, either directly or via other operators and customisation.
Of this total of seventy six new and rebuilt locomotives, only the pioneering South Johnstone 18 has been confirmed as being scrapped (this occurring circa 1975). Two others are also believed to have been disposed for scrap, although no confirmation has been forthcoming. These are Plane Creek 9 and a former Millaquin Mill unit originally built by Tulloch (002 of 1959) as a mining locomotive before being rebuilt by Baldwin in 1962.
Of the remainder:
Stored and/or dismantled - 6 units
Preserved - 5 units
Available for service - 62 units
Although production ceased in 1983, Westfalia Australia constructed a new locomotive based on the official Baldwin patents and designs in the form of Invicta Mill's Strathalbyn in 1991. Despite this, a potential new era of Baldwin designs was not forthcoming, sadly. However, it will be a very long time before the last operational Baldwin locomotive is retired from the industry.
Clyde Engineering
Of those builders who have delivered locomotives to the Australian Sugar Industry, perhaps Clyde is the most well known. Clyde were responsible for completing Australia's first locally built mainline diesel locomotive in the form of GM1 for the Commonwealth Railways in 1951. The company still exists today as part of EDI Rail and is currently producing locomotives for operations around the country.
Clyde's cane field output were all 0-6-0 DH types, split between the initial model DHI-71, and the later, slightly heavier and more powerful HG-3R. The first Clyde built locomotive for the Australian sugar industry was DHI-71 model Hambledon 1 in 1954. This locomotive continues in service today as Macknade 16.
The first delivery of a model HG-3R occured in 1961 with three units for Farleigh Mill, all of which still operate in 2003. Clyde's last cane field delivery was Isis Central Mill HG-3R No.9 in 1975.
Following this the company opted out of the sugar industry and did not return. Tallied up, Clyde built eighty locomotives for the industry between 1954 and 1975; this included fifty six DHI-71 model units and twenty four HG-3Rs.
The disposition of the eighty Clyde units as of late 2003 is as follows:
Available for service - 65 units
Stored/Dismantled - 6 units
Scrapped - 0 units
Preserved - 2 units
Transferred to Fiji (ex Isis Central Mill) - 6 units
Converted to brake wagon - 1 unit
Commonwealth Engineering (Comeng or Com-Eng)
Comeng's first locomotive for the Australian Sugar Industry was Mulgrave Mill's 1955 built No.2 (A1001), an 0-6-0 DM that was first of a batch of five such units built for the mill at that time. South Johnstone Mill also received a similar unit at this time. Of these six locomotives, all except Mulgrave 4 are still available for service, the latter is stored out of use at the mill, yet could be returned to service at any time.
The final cane fields locomotive from Comeng was Tully 18 (AO60113), built in 1977. This unit was re-engined in 2002 and continues in service to this day. In that 22 years, Comeng provided the industry directly with 75 locomotives. 72 of these were A or F series 0-6-0 type units, with an additional two 0-4-0 locomotives and a one off NA model B-B prototype in the form of Cattle Creek Mill 4 in 1977. This latter unit is still in service today as Racecourse Mill's 51 Finch Hatton.
An additional eight locomotives built for other operations also found their eventually way into the industry. Six of these were Queensland Railways DL12 Class Innisfail Tramway units, which it could be argued were within the industry already despite QR ownership. The other two originally worked for the Aramac Shire Tramway and the Dept of Supply NSW (St Mary's) respectively. The former was a fairly standard Comeng 0-6-0 except that it originally was designed for 1067 mm operation, while the latter was a tiny model GA 0-4-0 DH shunting unit.
As of the end of 2003, the 83 Comeng locomotives that have seen service in the Australian Sugar Industry have progressed as follows:
Scrapped - 2 units
Rebuilt as brake wagons - 2 units
Stored and/or dismantled - 5 units
Preserved - 1 unit
Available for service - 73 units
Of those 73, not all are employed in the regular seasonal cane haulage, some are held purely as back-up or spare units, while others are retained for use by the navvy crews who maintain the tracks and railway infrastructure.
Eimco/Professional Engineering
Eimco's involvement in the construction of locomotives for the Australian Sugar Industry lasted little more than 12 months in the early 1990s. That year saw the importing of Nyleta from Professional Engineering for South Johnstone Mill and the construction of a locally built unit for Fairymead Mill.
Nyleta caused untold problems upon arrival and had to be rebuilt by both Eimco and the mill, while the Fairymead unit proved to heavy for the mill's requirements so was sold on to Mackay Sugar for use at Farleigh Mill without being used by Fairymead.
Later that year, the company constructed three new, slightly larger locomotives for Mackay Sugar's Marian Mill, which proved far less troublesome. During 2003 the Farleigh Mill unit (now known as 33 Farleigh) was transferred to Marian to join them.
All five locomotives continue in service today, however the increasing use of Walkers rebuilds and an industry wide slump will probably ensure no further locomotives are delivered from the company in the short term at least.
Malcolm Moore
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Miscellaneous
Some of the more obscure builders to have delivered products to the sugar industry in Queensland.
Ruston & Hornsby, UK
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Motor Rail, Simplex
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Walkers Limited
Being based in Queensland and eventually developing a speciality in diesel-hydraulic locomotives, one would imagine that Walkers Limited might have been a larger player in the provision of units to the Australian sugar industry from a reasonably early point in dieselisation era. However the company's first attempt to enter the market - a solitary 0-6-0 DH built as a demonstrator in 1956 - did not reap the return they might have hoped for.
The company had to wait a couple of decades before their second unit entered cane field service; this being a second-hand unit from the Aramac Shire Tramway purchased by Pioneer Mill - the only mill with a compatible track gauge. The beginning of the 1990s brought about a change however.
Fourth Generation locomotives were beginning to be delivered from builders such as Eimco, however the cost of these units was high, and Walkers, the Sugar Industry and other companies began to investigate the feasibility of converting by then surplus government owned units for cane haulage.
This began in 1991 with the conversion of former Queensland Rail unit DH23 into Victoria Mill's Clem H McComiskie. Although this design did not find much success in cane haulage and instead is used for bulk sugar trains to Lucinda, over the next few years designs were refined, and dozens of former DH, ex NSWSRA 73 and ex Westrail M class locomotives were rebuilt for the industry.
Such was the success and economic savings of these conversions that no newly manufactured units have been built for the industry since 1991. Instead, former government owned shunters have been rebuilt by several builders and mills at a fraction of the cost of a new locomotive.
The industry however, is suffering a slump at present and the last Walkers rebuild was commissioned by Isis Central Mill as ISIS 6 in 2002. While it is believed Tully Mill maybe in the process of rebuilding a Walkers unit for the 2004 crush, numerous surplus representatives of the DH, 73 and ex Westrail MA class remain in store at various sites awaiting some form of use.
At present, Walkers units adhere to the following dispersal:
In service - 45 (incl 44 rebuilds and the former Aramac unit)
Preserved - 1 (the original 1956 demonstrator)
Stored - 24 (several in at least semi-dismantled form)
Eventually some of the stored units should see rebuild and recommissioning, however time will tell.
last updated: 10/12/09.