Commonwealth Railways CL class

The CL class is a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Commonwealth Railways in several batches between 1970 and 1972. The class was the last in the world to be built with the Electro-Motive Diesel bulldog nose but differed from previous builds in having a mansard roof.

Construction

In 1968 Commonwealth Railways placed an order for five 2237 kW locomotives with Clyde Engineering to operate services on the Trans-Australian Railway from Port Pirie to Kalgoorlie. They were mechanically similar to the Western Australian L class of 1967. The initial design was to have a Do-Do wheel arrangement and a USA style EMD FP45 cab. This was later changed to a streamlined carbody and conventional Co-Co wheel arrangement

History

The first locomotive was completed in January 1970, with two further orders resulting in 17 locomotives being built with the last delivered in October 1972. Their operating sphere was extended through to Perth on Indian Pacific services and for a time in the 1970s they operated through to Lithgow, New South Wales. In July 1975, all were included in the transfer of Commonwealth Railways to Australian National. The CLs began to operate to Alice Springs and Adelaide when these were converted to standard gauge in 1980 and 1983. In 2004 they began to operate to Darwin following this line opening.

Mercedes-Benz CL-Class

The Mercedes-Benz CL-Class was a line of full-size luxury grand tourers produced by the German automaker Mercedes-Benz, produced from 1992 to 2014 in the US. The name CL stands for the German Coupé Leicht (Coupé-Light) or Coupé Luxusklasse (Coupé-Luxury)

The CL-Class is the coupé derivative of the S-Class full-size luxury saloon, upon which it shares the same platform. Formerly known as the SEC (Sonderklasse-Einspritzmotor-Coupé) and later S-Coupé, it was spun off into its own, separate name in 1996 and in 1997 for North American markets. The CL continued to follow the same development cycle as the S, though riding on a shorter wheelbase, and sharing the same engines albeit with less choice as only the higher-output powertrains are offered. The last generation of the CL was actually heavier than the S (considering equivalent trims, due to the roof engineering required to compensate for the lack of a central B-pillar).

The last generation of the CL-Class, C216, was available in five models: CL 500 (CL 550 in some markets, with standard 4MATIC in Canada and the USA), CL 600, CL 63 AMG, CL 63 AMG(S) and CL 65 AMG. The CL 65 AMG was the most powerful model of the CL and the most expensive Mercedes-branded vehicle, slightly edging out its S-Class equivalent S65 AMG and the SLS. CL sales are the third-lowest of Mercedes-Benz in North America with under 1400 units sold in 2006, as only the G-Class four-wheel drive and two-seat SLS AMG sell smaller numbers; annual CL sales equalled Ford truck sales for one day. However, this degree of distinction was considered attractive to CL buyers.