On the morning of Friday 26th of April 2013, 61 years of passenger trains hauled by 'Bulldog' streamlined diesel locomotives in Victoria came to an end, with the arrival of A60 at Southern Cross station on the 06:12am Up Bacchus Marsh commuter service. Lots of railfans had been out on Wednesday to record the last 'Down' working, but very few people braved the early wake up to see the final run. A60 entered service as B60 'Harold W Clapp' in July 1952, being the Victorian Railways' first 'Bulldog' nose loco. In 1984 it was extensively rebuilt to become a member of the A class (being renamed Sir Harold Clapp in the process), and has worked for V/line ever since then. Here we see A60 resting at V/line's Dudley Street sidings around two hours after completing its final run, with a collection of N and P class locos, as well as a VLocity DMU set. Shortly after this photo was taken A60 departed for South Dynon locomotive depot where it will enter storage, its future at the time of writing is unclear. NOTE: For historical relevance I have left the above caption as I wrote it at the time. However a couple of A class did return to intermittent use with V/line, and as of 2016 A66 is still appearing on trains fairly regularly.
There are times when many engines, cars or cabooses are concentrated in a location. Such sites are for storage, economic reasons, active power needs or for rebuilding. For others, wear and tear have brought their usefulness to and end.
