The class 1300, built between 1967 and 1972 by English Electric at their Rocklea works, was the more powerful successor of the class 1270. Like its predecessor, it was destined for coal traffic on the Blackwater and Moura coal lines. It had a twelve-cylinder EE 12CSVT engine with an output of 1,950 hp. The 45 locomotives of the class became superfluous in 1986 and 1987 when these lines were electrified. In 1988, they were sold to AN Tasrail in Tasmania where they became class ZC. Only ten years later, most had been withdrawn and the last one was gone in 2004. In the meantime, withdrawn locomotives were sold to Australia, Senegal and Malaysia. One was preserved that can today be found on the Launceston & North East Railway in Tasmania.