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From 1953-54 until the early 1990s, the Victorian Railways ran 25 English Electric locomotives, each with 1650 kW of power and a maximum speed of 120 km/h. They were used on the Traralgon line, which was at that time completely electrified.
The L class ran freight from branch lines to Morwell and Yallourn. These places produced 'briquettes', compressed coal pieces, for power generation elsewhere, mostly the plant at Newport. They also ran some passenger services along the line.
The wires to Traralgon are now long gone. Now they end at Pakenham, a major terminus for Melbourne's suburban network. The downfall of the line may have been caused by the use of natural gas from Bass Strait to power the plant at Newport, and I speculate also advances in long distance power transmission allowing more power to be generated in the La Trobe valley itself where the coal was sourced.
Pic related is L1150 hauling briquettes near newport.
