*WOW!!!* After all these years she's finally running under own power on Standard Gauge! Now to see her doing mainline trials and then tours! Bring her down south to her home state - we have plenty of former Broad Gauge lines that are now Standard Gauge waiting for her!!! 😍

An imposing bit of kit with a chime whistle to die for. Congratulations from a Brit to the Aussie team that did the restoration.

At last, all those HO scale, 16.5mm gauge models of R766 have the correct gauge (and can keep running on NSW layouts! ;) All jokes aside, haven't they done a fabulous job!

They’ve done an beautiful job now we’ve got another R class apart of operation preservation to the volenteers Thankyou with out you guys this engine would still be in pieces how nice is it finally to see R766 in steam

Man this is history in the making! The first Australian steam locomotive to be re-gauged from broad gauge 5ft 3in to standard gauge 4ft 8-1/2in. Even as an American, the Victorian Railways R class Hudsons are my favorite steam locomotives of Australia. Oh wow! Since R766 has been re-gauged to standard gauge, just imagine if it came to North America to ride the rails in both the United States and Canada! Edited: also the R766 looks like a beast next to the wimpy American NSWGR D59 No. 5917.

@allanaliversidge5337

3 жыл бұрын

That wimpy Mikado boasts about 3500 lbs more tractive effort than an R. Designed for a multitude of gauges and loading gauges by Baldwin

@jltrain-zgamingrailfan202x3

3 жыл бұрын

@@allanaliversidge5337 It looks like your right. It seems that the VR R Hudsons can produce 35,700 lbs of traction effort, while the NSW D59 Mikados can produce 31,600 lbs.

@kevinpepperell1941

Жыл бұрын

@@allanaliversidge5337 The R class was designed for passenger service and has 73 inch diameter driving wheels. Large driving wheels effect the starting tractive effort calculation. Hence freight locos tend to have smaller diameter driving wheels giving greater starting tractive effort.

Absolutely Magnificent video Graeme. Glad they painted her to her original Black and Red colours. Thanks for sharing. And a job well done and accreditation to the team at Rothbury for making this excellent milestone. Cannot wait to see what tours are planned for R766 in NSW. And perhaps going into Victoria in the future.

The R class were originally made in Scotland, I've seen photos of them on trucks being conveyed through this small town to the wharf. R704 was displayed at a trade show in London. It carries a plaque describing this at the railway museum at Newport.

Beautiful steam locomotive. Fantastic efforts to all those people who made this happen.

Wow, I didn't even know it was possible to regauge a steam engine. Fantastic!

Good to see this old steamer formally from the Victorian Railways running again. I think at one point it was also one of 2 oil burners with West Coast Railways along with R711 on the Melbourne to Warrnambool service before being transferred to New South Wales. Once again, good to see R766 running again.

Thanks for filming it for us - a great effort by all involved over many years - congratulations, hope it can come to S.A again some time!

Looks and sounds fantastic. Credit to all involved in the restoration

If I didn't know any better, I'd say the New York Central hudsons have been reborn down under. Cracking job mates, absolutely stellar!

R766 looks very splendid. Congratulations to all involved in the restoration

Since the early '50s it was planned to re-gauge Australian railways to standard gauge and some feasibility studies were done but not proceeded with as it would have been a mammoth expensive project. However new steam locomotives such as the R and J class and I don't know which others were able to be converted to standard gauge. Also the diesels were also able to be bogie exchanged and many were swapped to the standard gauge Melbourne-Albury line, many were rotated from one gauge to another. A relic of this was the now defunct Mt Gambier line, in the '50s it was converted from narrow gauge to broad gauge and it used steel sleepers which has standard gauge holes in them ready to be converted. It is a pity that the Mt Gambier line was isolated when the Melbourne-Adelaide line was standardized in the 1990s.

Fantastic to see her up ruining again, looking forward to see her in action

shes up and running amazing :O

Cannot wait for steamfest when racing against the plane. Which one will be faster, the R class or 38 class, which one can haul more? Can't wait. Great work by all involved. People said it can't be done, well she's on standard gauge now. All we need now is our big boy 5711 going, well she is big.

Incredible work!

Splendid!

Wonderful steam locomotive.

Love it Graeme😀

Regauging a 5’3” locomotive to standard 4’8½” must have been a mammoth task. Not so much the tender. At least we have some dual gauge track in Vic for a visit. These Hudsons have it all over Pacifics do they not… 👏🌹✌️

Oh my god this made my bloody day. Tell me, that whistle doesn’t sound like a typical R class one. It almost sounds like an NSWGR one, am I correct?

@robbiewales3007

2 жыл бұрын

Not 100% although each R class had it's own pitch. R761 and R707 have slight differences in pitch

Did you know the driving wheels on R766 are actually R700's driving wheels

Wait R766 is bigger than 5917, I forgot how big the r class are

Wait... Victorian Steam Train into Sydney Steam Train Fleet???

Oil fired? Nice

Why does R766 have two small lights on the sides of the smokeobx?

@JRussellProductions

3 жыл бұрын

Those are marker lights. They've always been on the steam locomotives.

@brentonthorpe7328

3 жыл бұрын

@@JRussellProductions Thanks, that makes sense. Can't believe that I haven't noticed them before, lol.

@g.g.dunnitt9181

3 жыл бұрын

In the US I think they're called classification lights, but what sort of classification I don't know.

@adamsalicki6622

3 жыл бұрын

@@g.g.dunnitt9181 the R class in Victoria were always classified as an express passenger locomotive, but were often seen on freight services. Built in Glasgow as well, so maybe under a British classification system?

@EeBee51

Жыл бұрын

Marker lights to indicate the route. In NSW, both side lights on meant western lines, Centre light (which is built into the headlight) + left hand light (looking at the front) meant northern lines, centre plus right hand light meant southern lines. These light codes carried over into diesel and electric locos, and their self propelled car sets. Other states would have had similar codes but I don't know them

May i use your footage for a video I am working on?

@BelbinVideo

11 ай бұрын

If you give credit and let me know how much you will be using, that should be fine.

@VictorianTransportHistory

11 ай бұрын

@@BelbinVideo Around the first 3 mintiues of the video, which will mostly be blured out

@BelbinVideo

11 ай бұрын

Sure, go right ahead.@@VictorianTransportHistory

@VictorianTransportHistory

11 ай бұрын

@@BelbinVideo Thanks

Great to see. But wouldn't this loco have been broad gauge?

@cozmoandfriends9238

3 жыл бұрын

She was but she had her gauge converted to standard during reatoration

@richardwales7825

3 жыл бұрын

The R class locos came from the British factory designed to be converted to standard guage.

@raymondmeredith5840

3 жыл бұрын

The R & J class were designed to be converted from 5' 3" (broad gauge) to 4' 81/2" (standard gauge), this is the first locomotive to be converted. There are blocks between the frames, which when removed, you can narrow the frames together, which is basically what they have done. If you purchase a J class, you can do the same.

@robbiewales3007

2 жыл бұрын

@@raymondmeredith5840, I remember that J class J512 was meant to be placed on the standard gauge too however it looks increasingly unlikely given to other projects and getting J515 back on the mainline again

History for an R class..on the SG..wouldn't those NSW fans like to see her at 115kmh on the mainline? Is it wishful thinking?

@aussiejohn5835

Жыл бұрын

It actually happened and I hope you were able to witness it.