In the mid to late 1990's West Coast Railway converted former coal burning R class 4-6-4 express passenger steam locomotive R711 into an oil burner with double lempor exhausts for use on their Warrnambool passenger services. The locomotive entered service in November 1998 and was quickly nicknamed a "Super R" by the railfans. The objective of the upgrades was so the locomotive could haul the Warrnambool service to a diesel schedule.
In addition to the regular Warrnambool runs on Saturday's, the locomotive was also used on a number of railfan tours around the state. This video features R711 hauling tours for South Western Railway Society, the Australian Railway Historical Society and Steamrail between June 2000 and December 2001. Also included is footage of a transfer run back to Ballarat in December 2000.
R711 last ran in WCR service in late 2002 and was returned to Ballarat East for maintenence. Unfortunately it never returned to service with WCR before they ceased operations in 2004. The locomotive has since been acquired by Steamrail and returned to mainline service in 2011, although many of the "super R" modifications have been removed.
© 2000 - 2001 James Brook