Victorian Railways M class (diesel-hydraulic)
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| Victorian Railways M Class | |||||||||||||||||
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 M class M231 at Steamrail's open day in March, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||
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The Victorian Railways M class are a diesel-hydraulic powered railway shunting locomotive, constructed at Newport workshops of the Victorian Railways in Victoria, Australia and used between 1959 and 1987.
In the 1950s the Victorian Railways were looking for alternative locomotive power to replace the aging fleet of steam locomotive which were used for shunting duties.[1] To aid in the replacement of the steam locomotives, in 1959, two shunting locomotives were built by the Victorian Railways at their Newport Workshops.[2] These locomotives featured an Ellison TC 500 diesel-hydraulic transmission powered by an 112 kilowatts (150 hp) EMD power unit, and were fitted with the same wheels as those on the F Class locomotives.[3]
The two engines were given class M and the numbers 231 and 232.[2] When introduced, both locomotives wore a plain, dark red livery with black under frame, similar to the Victorian Railways V class.[4] Both locomotives later in their life would be repainted into the traditional Victorian Railways blue and gold livery. The two M class locomotives would almost exclusively operate in the Newport Workshops compound under the ownership of the Victorian Railways.[2] They did occasionally substitute for other shunting engines, such as M231 at Warragul for a few days in March 1960, when the normal engine D3 680 was briefly reallocated to Traralgon.[5]: 7
