Newcastle Flyer

A 3801 hauled train replicating the old Newcastle Flyer

The Newcastle Express, better known as the Newcastle Flyer, was an Australian passenger express train operated from late 1929 to 1988 connecting the cities of Newcastle and Sydney.

Early history

On 1 May 1889 the first trains began running between Sydney and Newcastle. However, it was not until 1929 that a premier express service was introduced. In the late 1920s and early 1930s the name Newcastle Flyer was not used, rather The Northern Commercial Limited and the Inter City Express were the names given to the trains, the latter of which eventually became known as The Newcastle Express.^[1]

The 36 class hauled trains

The trains were initially hauled by 32 class engines and later by the well regarded 36 Class 4-6-0 type steam locomotives.^[2]

The 38 class hauled trains

Harold Young (Chief Mechanical Engineer of the NSWGR) oversaw the design of a new type of locomotive in the form of the C38 Class Pacific 4-6-2. The first locomotive to ever pull a Newcastle Flyer was class leader 3801 on 25 February 1943. Until 1947 both the 36 and 38 class locomotives hauled NSW's most prestigious express passenger train. However, by 1947 the 36 were removed from their duties on the Newcastle Flyer as by this time more of the 38 class members had been completed, and their help was no longer required. The 38 Class eventually saw its time pulling the Flyers come to an end with locomotive 3820 pulling the last steam hauled Newcastle Flyer on 29 December 1970.^[3]

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Diesel and Electric hauled trains

From the early 1950s, The Newcastle Flyer was occasionally hauled by diesel locomotives, but the 38 class steam engines remained the usual power. When electrification north to Gosford was completed in January 1960, the train was regularly hauled between Sydney and Gosford by a 46 Class, with normally a 38 class locomotive (or other steam or diesel unit) north of Gosford. As noted above, 38 class haulage of the express north of Gosford was normal until 1970. The more modern 86 Class engines took over the train in 1984 throughout, when electification was extended to Newcastle). Later the Newcastle Express services became part of a ubiquotous regular electric multiple-unit service on the Sydney-Newcastle line, without name or special facilities.

Speed/time records

On the 28 June 1964, 3801 hauled a train similar to the late-1940s Newcastle Flyer in a successful attempt to break the Sydney-Newcastle rail record, until then held by a 36 class engine testing for a speed-up of the express prior to World War Two. 3801 established a new record of 2 hours, 1 minute and 51 seconds, and possibly could have made it in a flat two hours except for congestion when the train approached Sydney Terminal. This record remains unbroken for the Sydney-Newcastle line.^[4]

Heritage trains

Due to the fame surrounding the route and the positive involvement of steam fans Australia wide, often locomotives 3801, 3642 and 3830 thanks to NSWRTM, run special heritage trains from Sydney to Newcastle, recreating the famed Newcastle Express.

References

1. ^ Newcastle Express, Peter Attenborough
2. ^ The C38 Class, John. B. Thompson
3. ^ The C38 Class, John. B. Thompson
4. ^ The C38 Class, John. B. Thompson

• The C38 Class Pacific Locomotive of the New South Wales Government Railways, John. B. Thompson, Eveleigh Press, 1992, pg's: 3, 4, 5 ,197, 198,