Eighty 81 class locomotives were built by Clyde Engineering, Kelso between September 1982 and February 1986, to replace 1950s vintage 42 and 44 class locomotives as well as provide additional capacity. The first 42 were based at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot to operate Hunter Valleycoal trains, while the remaining 38 were concentrated on the Main South line between Sydney and Albury hauling both passenger and freight trains. The final 15 were equipped with V/Line radios, and from July 1986 operated through to Melbourne. They are mechanically very similar to the V/Line G class and Australian National BL class. In 1991, a further four units were built at Kelso using many components from spares held. Following the delivery of the 90 class in 1994, the Broadmeadow based units were released to replace older locomotives on other freight duties. This saw their sphere of operation extended to Brisbane and Broken Hill. In the mid-1990s some of the later locomotives were leased to National Rail. These were later exchanged for 13 of the earlier locomotives which were permanently transferred to National Rail for use as high-power shunters around Australia. All were reunited when National Rail and FreightCorp were both sold to form Pacific National in February 2002. In February 1999, 81s began operating in South Australia when FreightCorp won a contract to haul brown coal on the Leigh Creek to Stirling North line from Leigh Creek to the Northern Power Station in Port Augusta. As at February 2013, Pacific National operated 83, primarily in New South Wales. 8147 was written off following a derailment near Forbes on 11 March 2007.
Model railways
HO Scale
in 2015 announced a range of 81 class locomotives, thought to include Candy, Bicentennial, Freightrail and Freightcorp variants, National Rail and Pacific National models, with all four body types. The range will be available both as DC and DCC with sound. Austrains in 2014 released models of the 81 class locomotive retailing at about $300 per model. The range included 8134, 8155 and 8169 in Freightrail Blue, and 8125, 8150 and 8178 in Pacific National blue and yellow. An incorrectly-modelled Candy locomotive was also released. A second run was planned for 2015, but will not go ahead after SDS Models announced their range Powerline released models of the 81 class in 1987. At the time the entire fleet was painted in Candy, so that was the only model released. 8175 was a dummy unit; 8115, 8122, 8129, 8138, 8142 and 8157 were released with a single motor, while 8169 and 8175 were released with dual motors. Some twin packs were also released, usually the dummy 8175 with one single-motor unit. 1990 saw a special release of an unnumbered Candy locomotive released with a KB coach. In 1997 the locomotive was rerun, this time in Bicentennial, Stealth and Freight Rail. In December 1987 Hobbyco in George Street, Sydney, were retailing the single motor version for $101.95.
