Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as Comeng [ ], was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams.
History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engineering, was founded in 1921, in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown, as a body builder for custom motor cars. It went bankrupt in the Great Depression, and was reformed as Waddingtons Body Works and the main factory was moved to Granville, after a fire in the main workshop. The Government of Australia took control of the company during World War II as the company was in serious financial difficulties but had many government orders in its books. The government purchased a controlling stake in the company in 1946 and changed the name to Commonwealth Engineering.
In 1949 a factory was established in Rocklea, Queensland. This was followed in 1952 by a plant in Bassendean, Western Australia and in 1954 by another in Dandenong, Victoria. Another factory was established in Braemar, NSW in 1973, as Mittagong Engineering. This was established not only to take some of the workload off the Granville plant but to potentially replace it.
In June 1957, the government sold its shares. In November 1982 Comeng was taken over by Australian National Industries.
The Granville factory closed in 1989 and has been demolished. The site, which was situated between the Great Western Highway and Main Western railway line west of Duck River, has been replaced with new developments including high-rise housing and light industries.
In 1990, the Dandenong plant was sold to ABB (later Bombardier Transportation, now Alstom), while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co.
Buses
Australian Capital Territory 60 Canberra Bus Service AEC Reliance 470s 30 Canberra Bus Service AEC Swift 505s
New South Wales 50 Leyland OPSU1/1s 50 AEC Regal IVs
Victoria 50 AEC Regal IIIs
Western Australia Leyland OPSU1/1s
Diesel locomotives
New South Wales 8 BHP Port Kembla D1 class diesel locomotives 6 442 class diesel locomotives 10 70 class diesel hydraulic locomotives 50 80 class diesel electric locomotives 15 XPT power cars
Queensland 1 Mount Isa Mines 302 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive 1 Mount Isa Mines 305 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive 7 DL class locomotives for Innisfail Tramway operations
Western Australia
1 MRWA E class locomotive 10 WAGR B class locomotives 11 Westrail N class diesel locomotives Alco 636 M636 diesel locomotives for Hamersley Iron 21 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Mount Newman Mining 12 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Robe River Mining
Electric locomotives New South Wales 10 85 class electric locomotive 50 86 class electric locomotive
Queensland
18 3100 class electric locomotive 68 3200 class electric locomotive
Diesel multiple units
New South Wales 5 1100 class Budd railcars
Queensland 24 1800 class railcars 2 1900 class railcars 40 2000 class railcars
South Australia 30 2000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars 20 3000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars
Western Australia 10 West Australian ADK diesel multiple units 8 West Australian Prospector diesel railcars 5 West Australian Australind diesel railcars
Tasmania 6 Tasmanian Government Railways DP class railcars
India Numerous diesel railcars for Indian RailwaysThe Indian Railcar Contract Adam, Eric Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, December 1989 pp285-291
Electric multiple units
New South Wales 80 W set Sydney suburban carriages 80 U set Intercity carriages 359 S set Sydney suburban carriages 246 V set Intercity carriages 11 Skitube electric carriages
Victoria
570 Comeng Melbourne suburban carriages
Carriages
Commonwealth Railways 24 carbon steel carriages 124 stainless steel carriages
Long Island Rail Road 10 C1 bilevel cars (design only; built by Tokyu Car Corporation)
New South Wales 35 N type carriages 67 RUB carriages 75 stainless steel carriages 47 XPT carriages
Queensland 99 steel carriages 35 stainless steel carriages 112 suburban stainless steel carriages (SX)
Trams and light rail
New South Wales 100 R1 class Sydney trams
Victoria 230 Z class Melbourne trams 70 A class Melbourne trams 132 B class Melbourne trams
Hong Kong 70 MTR Phase I Light Rail Vehicles 1988
References
Bibliography
External links