BHP-Billiton Locomotives
I have created a separate page for BHP because of the size of the
BHP fleet.
Nearly all of BHP's diesel and electric locos have been included; I
have
only left out a few early ones.
Where there is no official class number, I have substituted the
number
of the first loco.
BHP is famous as the "Big Australian", and was until recently,
Australia's
largest company. BHP
originated in Broken Hill in 1885, and since then has grown to become
an
international organisation covering mining, steelmaking, petroleum, and
manufacturing.
More recently, things have not been so good for BHP, and changes are
likely.
BHP has now merged with British resources company Billiton. As well,
BHP
Steel is now a separate company.
In 1999, BHP closed the aging and less profitable steel making facility
in Newcastle, though its downstream manufacturing of steel products in
Newcastle continued. In 2000, OneSteel was formed by BHP separating out
its Whyalla steel works and some of its downstream manufacturing
plants. OneSteel has more recently merged with Smorgan Steel.
In 2001 BHP merged with Billiton, a mining company of Dutch origin with
substantial interests in South Africa and elsewhere around the world.
Part of the merger was a decision for BHP Billiton to be a mining
company and therefore to divest itself of the remainder of its steel
business, most notably its steel making facility in Port Kembla and
downstream manufacturing in Port Kembla and Hastings. BHP Steel,
previously a division of BHP, became an independent company with
permission to continue trading under that name for a limited time. BHP
Steel was renamed BlueScope Steel in 2003.
Newcastle (OneSteel - Rod and
Bar
Products Division)
The Newcastle steelworks was BHP's first , beginning production in
1915, and from then on was the one of the two main steelmaking centres
in Australia. Things changed when BHP gradually closed the steelworks
by the end of 1999, and so Newcastle is looking at a different image.
This meant that BHP's fleet
were withdrawn and sold. Pacific National have taken over the shunting,
and
use their 81 class locos instead.
Port Hedland (BHP
Billiton
Iron Ore)
BHP was the third company to begin mining iron ore in the Pilbara; this
being
via its subsidiary Mt Newman, in 1969. Along with Hamersley Iron, this
is
one of the world's top "heavy-haul" railway lines, and carries over 65
megatonnes
of iron ore per year. BHP also took over Goldsworthy Mining, the first
Pilbara
operator (from 1965), in 1991. The mines are at Mt Whaleback / Newman,
Yandi, and
Yarrie
(the latter belonging to Goldsworthy). A new mine at Mining Area C
(south
of Yarrie) has opened.
Several of the Port Hedland locos have been
painted in a new corporate livery; these including 3086, 3096;
6070, 6073, 6075-6076;
5630, 5632;
5634-5636, 5639, 5641, 5643-5647 and 5663; and the SD70ACe class.
The demand for iron ore has seen the BHP Billiton Pilbara fleet
increase to around 115 locos, with more on order.
Newman:
Goldsworthy:
Port Kembla (Blue
Scope Steel - Integrated Steel and Coated Steel Divisions)
The Port Kembla steelworks is the second largest in Australia; BHP took
it
over from Australian Iron and Steel (AIS) in 1935. The Hoskins brothers
had
transferred operations from Lithgow to Port Kembla in 1928. BHP's
operations here also include the John Lysaghts plant. As a result of
the closure of the
Newcastle works, Port Kembla became the major steelmaking centre in
Australia.
BHP operates 30 locos on 190 km of track both within the steelworks, as
well
as to coal mines in the surrounding area. However, Pacific National's
81
class have made an appearance here as well, on lease.
PacNat took over operations at Port Kembla in late 2007, with around 16
of the EE locos changing to PN ownership.
AIS:
Lysaghts:
Whyalla (OneSteel
- Long
Products Division)
Whyalla is BHP's third steelworks, opening in the 1960's. Since early
in the century, BHP had already been mining iron from nearby Iron
Baron, and Iron Knob. This included (for a short time) electric
railways at both Whyalla and Rapid Bay (south of Adelaide). Later on,
another mine opened at Iron Duke.
BHP has also been involved in shipbuilding at Whyalla. Currently, BHP
operates
6 locos on 130 km of standard, narrow, and dual gauge track within the
steelworks,
and to the iron ore mines. They formerly leased one or two MKA class
locos
from National Railway Equipment (former MKA) at Whyalla - these are
ex-TasRail/ATN
ZC class locos
that
were rebuilt by MKA.
Formerly part of this operation was the Coffin Bay Tramway, a line
running
from Port Lincoln west to limestone deposits at Coffin Bay. This has
now
been sold and ripped up.
ASR took over operation of the BHP network from December 1999, with the
existing
BHP locos staying in service, and also with some of ASR's locos (such
as
the CK class) being brought in to help out.
With the sale and break-up of ARG in 2006, Geneseee & Wyoming
Australia (GWA) took over the Whyalla operations.
Other BHP Whyalla preserved locomotives:
DE10 was a early shunter (originally petrol-electric, later
diesel-electric), used at the Whyalla steelworks. Click here to see a photo by
myself of DE10.
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