Solar mobility is not only about bikes and cars. In Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, a beautifully restored vintage train runs along the coast powered by the sun — and holds the Guinness World Record as the first solar-powered train in scheduled service.
The train consists of a pair of 600-class railmotor carriages built in 1949 at the Chullora Railway Workshops in Sydney. Instead of scrapping them, the Byron Bay Railroad Company stripped out the old diesel engines and gave them a second life as an electric train. It carried its first paying passengers on 16 December 2017.
The roof of the train is covered with about 6.5 kW of curved solar panels, and a further 30 kW array sits on the roof of the storage shed at the station. Together they charge a 77 kWh lithium-ion battery (410 V) on board. Two electric motors move the roughly 70-tonne train with up to 100 passengers.
The route is a 3 km stretch of the previously disused Murwillumbah line, between North Belongil Beach and the centre of Byron Bay — up to 14 round trips a day. Between runs, the train tops up its battery from the solar array on the station shed.
It is a wonderful example of what our community loves most: taking something that already exists, adding panels and batteries, and turning it into something that runs on sunshine.
Technical data
| Operator | Byron Bay Railroad Company (funded by Bill Flannery) |
|---|---|
| Conversion | Lithgow Railway Workshop volunteers, led by Tim Elderton |
| Vehicle | Two-car 600-class railmotor built in 1949, ~70 t |
| Solar | ~6.5 kW on the train roof + 30 kW on the station shed |
| Battery | 77 kWh lithium-ion, 410 V |
| Motors | 2 × Parker GVM permanent-magnet AC motors |
| Capacity | 100 passengers plus surfboards and luggage |
| Route | 3 km line, North Belongil Beach ↔ Byron Bay, since December 2017 |
Photo: Jotrain G / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources: Guinness World Records · Clean Energy Regulator · create digital · RenewEconomy