Still Running: 6029 Is the Largest Operating Steam Locomotive in Australia
Every other locomotive in this series is preserved. Displayed behind a fence or under a roof. 6029 still hauls trains.
AD60 Class Beyer-Garratt 6029 is the largest operating steam locomotive in Australia. Not the largest on static display. Operating. It's part of the Transport Heritage NSW fleet and still runs special trains around the state.
This 2025 50c Coloured Uncirculated Coin from the Royal Australian Mint's Steam Giants – Australian Rail Heritage collection features 6029. In a series built around great Australian steam locomotives, this one is different — it's still working.
The AD60 Class arrived in NSW in the early 1950s. There were 42 of them, built for heavy freight across the NSW network. The Beyer-Garratt configuration — boiler mounted between two separate engine units on a single frame — gave the class serious pulling power without the rigid wheelbase of a conventional locomotive the same size. That mattered on a network with gradients and curves. The AD60s were the most powerful steam locomotive class to operate in NSW.
Most of the 42 were scrapped when diesel took over. 6029 survived, entered preservation, and eventually joined the Transport Heritage NSW fleet. It still runs under steam. That's not something you can say about many preserved locomotives, and for something this large, it's genuinely uncommon.
For collectors, that means 6029 can still be seen in action. Not in a museum. On track, moving, working. If that's something you're interested in, Transport Heritage NSW announces its running dates and they sell out.
The coin: 31.51mm diameter, 15.55 grams, copper-nickel, uncirculated finish. Mintage capped at 35,000. Price $17.50.
Collectors picking up the Queensland coin in this series — No. 1009, also a Beyer-Garratt — will notice the design connection. The AD60 was a bigger class with more machines. 6029 is the one that kept going.
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