Isis Sugar Mill’s Locos – D1

The Isis Central Sugar Mill’s D1 started life as DH20, a diesel-hydraulic loco built by Walkers Engineering of Maryborough (b/n 602) for the 1067mm Queensland Railways in 1969. It entered service in February of that year.

By 1990 DH20 was out of service and was purchased by the Isis Mill. Some sources record that the loco was purchased direct from the Queensland Railways while others suggest that it was purchased from Sims Metal.

Wherever it came from DH20 was going to need some rebuilding before it could be used on the Isis system and that rebuild was completed by August 1991 and released as a model GH500 in time for the loco to be used during that year’s harvest. It seems that the rebuilding at that stage consisted of not much more than regauging and changing the couplers.

At the end of the 1994 season the D1 was again rebuilt … this time by the Isis mill and it emerged as you see here … in what Isis considers to be their standard profile.

*It’s the 2010 crush and D1 is seen passing a tractor hauling a load of harvested cane to the nearby loading point in Lynwood*

*Further east on the same day D1 now has it’s long string of empties almost to the top of the grade at Hetherington Road*

And here’s some raw footage of D1 crossing Hetherington Road Lynwood with a long string of empties on 18 September 2010

Details from historical data recorded by John Browning and the Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. and members of CaneTrains.net