Railway Digest Magazine November 2019 Back Issue

The Aurizon 2700 Class locomotives
The familiar ‘low-nose’ 2300 class units resulted from the rebuilding of 60 members of the Clyde/EMD 1500 and 2400 class locomotives at Redbank Workshops, between 1997 and 2002. There was some surprise recently when Aurizon indicated that a further rebuild of a several 2300 class units was to be undertaken, including the installation of a new, different engine. The first of the rebuilt machines, 2701 ‘Super Clyde’, took its trial run on Thursday 18 September. Peter Clark takes a detailed look at Aurizon’s new locomotive.

Inland Rail: Parkes to Narromine update
The Australian Rail Track Corporation’s 30 August announcement that work had been completed on North West Connection, the link between the Broken Hill line and the line to Narromine, signalled the commissioning of the first entirely new construction associated with the Melbourne – Brisbane Inland Railway project. John Hoyle visited Parkes to observe the ongoing construction work, particularly on the Parkes-Narromine line.

The Mount Lofty Railway Station Lodge: a great place to watch trains go by
The end of March 2019 marked one year since the closing of one of Australia’s best railway watching venues. As the now vacant building languishes without a new tenant or purpose, Dominik Giemza, a regular guest in the Lodge’s glory days, looks at the story of the Mount Lofty Railway Station’s second life as a very different place to stay.

Reef ‘n Beef (The Great Northern Railway Tour 2019)
In late July, with the winter blues being well and truly felt, the Three Amigos (Shane O’Neil, Malcolm Holdsworth and Graham Hind) headed off to North Queensland, to check out the Great Northern Railway from Townsville to (not quite) Mt Isa, and to see what was happening on the sugar cane railways around Ingham.