Australian Model Railway Magazine - Clyde: The Diesel Era Book

The Clyde Engineering Company Limited was one of the iconic Australian engineering firms, whose history spanned just over a century. By David Jehan

Clyde Engineeringentered the diesel era with the 1948 signing of an agreement with the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors to be an associate builder and coversthe period of establishing the diesel power locomotive into Australian and overseas countries. The agreement details are included. But during this period Clyde Engineering was more than a locomotive builder; the engineering activities were vast and the customers also came from outside Australia. Some of these include:

Road vehicles and railway rolling stock. This includes some of the early garbage trucks and busses and the many tank wagons and hoppers including Clydes involvement with assembling the over-seas made grain and coal hoppers.

General engineering which included boilers, pressure vessels, cranes, floating docks, cement industry machinery, bridges and equipment for the steel making industry.

Passenger carriages from the basic VR Harris cars to the more complex STA of South Australia 3000/3100class, the Millennium train and others. Also included are some of the failed offerings.

Diesel Hydraulic locomotives were a small part of the Government railway systems but the sugar industry in Queensland and Fiji had a need for a reliable product. Clyde Engineering obliged and produced a number of long-tern use locomotives.

Electric locomotives of which Clyde develop proposals from the 1950s and build a few classes for Queensland. As with the diesel production, each class built is accompanied by a General Arrangement drawing.

The bulk of the book, quite rightly, includes Clydes involvement with the commencement and ongoing development of the diesel electric locomotive; from the first offer to the NSWGR in the 1950s through to and including locomotive rebuilds and  the Ready Power and Maintenance involvement.

The diesel period forClyde Engineering shows the five generations of the EMD diesel engine powered locomotive, from the original Bulldog GM, 42, B and S classes through to the 1990s building of the three-phase 4000 class for Queensland. Each development stage is handled separately with American origins shown and each class built covered in detail, including a General arrangement drawing. This book cover the work by Clyde, including rebuilding and as such only cover the paint schemes applied by Clyde. Much of the photographs come from Clyde employees who has first-hand access to every production build and publicity. Some of the photos show these employees and their work in designing and developing the many locomotive classes used by Australian railways.