The New South Wales stainless steel carriage stock is a type of passenger carriage operated by the New South Wales Government Railways from 1961 until 1993.
These carriages were mainly used on interstate trains such as the Southern Aurora, which ran between Sydney and Melbourne, its slower counterpart the Spirit of Progress and the Brisbane Limited. They were also used on the Gold Coast Motorail to Murwillumbah.
With the demise of locomotive-hauled trains, the majority of the carriages passed to the Australian Railway Historical Society, Canberra and New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (now the NSW Rail Museum) who have maintained them in operational condition. The latter infrequently operates them on tours under the Southern Aurora banner.Awake in a New World Heritage Express Since November 2020, Vintage Rail Journeys has emerged as the primary operator of ex-Southern Aurora/Brisbane Limited carriages, using a combination of their carriages and carriages hired in from THNSW/LVR.
Design The carriages used featured fluted sides and consisted of roomette and twinette sleepers, lounge cars and diners, with the Southern Aurora carriages being owned when new jointly by the New South Wales Government Railways and Victorian Railways, and both the Brisbane Express and Gold Coast Motorail carriages being owned by the New South Wales Government Railways.
Construction
Brisbane Express Cars In late 1954, tenders were called for by the Department of Railways for 24 air conditioned carbon steel bodied cars for the Brisbane Limited similar in construction the HUB and RUB sets. The trains would have been marshalled into two 9-carriage sets, plus one of each type spare. The contract was awarded to Commonwealth Engineering, Granville in August 1955. Commonwealth Engineering had put an option in their tender application for these cars to be constructed from stainless steel instead of the carbon steel specified and they were successful with this option. However, reduced available funds led to extended delays and the renegotiation of the contract and with the contract being changed and by 1959 the cars actually ordered had changed to only 5 LAN roomette sleepers (2323–2327) and 5 NAM twinette sleepers (2328–2332). These cars were built from stainless steel and used design techniques that Commonwealth Engineering had licensed from the Budd Company.
Southern Aurora & Spirit of Progress Joint Stock Cars
A fleet of 34 stainless steel carriages were jointly purchased by the Department of Railways New South Wales and Victorian Railways for the commencement of the Southern Aurora between Sydney and Melbourne in April 1962. The carriages were ordered from Commonwealth Engineering, Granville and the cars as ordered for this service consisted of: 9 NAM twinette sleeping cars with a capacity of 20 passengers numbered 2335–2343 2 DAM deluxe twinette sleeping cars with a capacity of 18 passengers numbered 2333 & 2334, with 2333 being owned by Victorian Railways and 2334 by NSWGR. 3 RMS dining cars numbered 2358–2360 3 BCS lounge cars numbered 2355–2357 11 LAN roomette sleeping cars with a capacity of 20 passengers numbered 2344–2354 3 PHN power/ brake vans numbered 2361–2363 3 MHN luggage brake vans numbered 2364–2366
Additional cars to the same design were also ordered for use on the Spirit of Progress, these cars consisted of: 3 NAM twinette sleeping cars with a capacity of 20 passengers numbered 2367, 2368 & 2373 3 PHN power/ brake vans numbered 2369–2371
Seven were destroyed in the Violet Town rail accident on 7 February 1969 with replacement stock built in 1970/71."Melbourne/Sydney Express Cars" Railway Digest November 1986 page 353"20 Years Ago" Railway Digest December 1990 page 454 The replacement cars of the same design were given new numbers, but used bogies recovered from the crash site. 2 NAM, numbered 2374-2375 3 LAN, numbered 2376-2378 1 BCS, numbered 2379 1 PHN, numbered 2381
Gold Coast Motorail Cars To provide additional sleeping cars for the Brisbane Limited and Gold Coast Motorail, ten twinette sleeping cars with a capacity of 18 sleeping passengers in nine compartments were ordered by the Public Transport Commission. These cars were coded FAM (2382–2391) and were delivered by Commonwealth Engineering in 1975/76. These had deeper skirts than the earlier built carriages.
Power Vans
Five power vans with a guard's compartment were delivered during late 1984; they were coded PHA & numbered 2392–2396. These cars were built by A Goninan & Co and differed slightly in exterior finish as Goninans constructed them using design techniques that they had licensed from the Pullman Company as opposed to the Budd techniques used by Commonwealth Engineering. The PHA vans were meant to be replacements for the PHS vans on the longer distance locomotive hauled trains and were fitted with three GM 8V71 125 kW diesel alternator units. These were later replaced by three Cummins engines in PHA 2393 and 2396.
Operations
Southern Aurora era 1962–1986
Violet Town crash, 1969 Seven were destroyed in the Violet Town rail accident on 7 February 1969 with replacement stock built in 1970/71."Melbourne/Sydney Express Cars" Railway Digest November 1986 page 353 The replacement cars of the same design were given new numbers.
Sydney & Melbourne Express era 1986–1993
Withdrawal Some of these cars were withdrawn following the cessation of the North Coast sleepers in February 1990 and the balance when the Sydney/Melbourne Express ceased in November 1993.
Heritage operations era 1993–Current Some were placed on RailCorp's heritage register and placed in the custody of the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum.RailCorp S170 Heritage and Conservation Register RailCorp 17 September 2012 with most other auctioned in August 1994."Rolling Stock – Carriage Auction Results" Railway Digest October 1994 page 38 Queensland Rail purchased six and moved them to Townsville with the aim of refurbishing for use on The Inlander, but the project was cancelled."Ex-NSW Cars Still Await Reuse in Townsville" Railway Digest April 1997 page 16 Canberra Railway Museum had fifteen cars.ARHS ACT Wongm's Rail Gallery
Repurposing
NAM 2332 & NAM 2342 were retained for use as crew carriages with breakdown cranes. NAM 2332 had 4 compartments and the conductors compartment reconfigured as a dining area and kitchen. It is now used by THNSW as a crew carriage. NAM 2342 had the interior of its compartments painted gloss beige whilst in service as a crew car.
Three were converted to track recording cars (known as AK Cars) and have been used across Australia's standard gauge network to record track geometry."The AK Track Evaluation and Inspection Cars" Railway Technical Society of Australasia June 2004 page 2
V/Line Passenger acquisition of NAM2337
NAM 2337 was purchased by V/Line in 2016 from a private buyer, and the preparations were made to convert it to a power van to be used on the North East Line. In July 2018, the V/Line Board kindly agreed to donate the carriage to the Southern Aurora commemoration project located at Violet Town.Southern Aurora
Vintage Rail Journeys era 2017–Current
In August 2017, Simon Mitchell & Danielle Smith of NSWGR Holdings Pty Ltd purchased 7 carriages at auction from the liquidator of the former ARHS (ACT). Further purchases were subsequently made, such that the organisation owned a total of 17 ex-Southern Aurora Carriages. From November 2017, the initial 7 carriages were moved to Lithgow Railway Workshops, where NAMs 2330, 2341, 2342 & 2374 were restored. LANs 2348, 2372, MHN 2366 & NAM 2335 were subsequently moved to Goulburn Locomotive Roundhouse where restoration commenced in September 2019, concluding in March 2020. RMS 2360 was restored in Goulburn and Thirlmere commencing January 2021, with PHN 2381 following in January 2022. These carriages were housed at the NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere under a commercial arrangement which concluded on 30 June 2022. NAM 2367 and LANs 2325 & 2344 were moved to Goulburn Locomotive Roundhouse pending restoration. NAM 2367 was the subject of a Regional Job Creation Grant, with restoration commencing in November 2021, and completed by August 2022. On 1 July 2022 the fleet comprising NAM 2330, NAM 2335, NAM 2341, NAM 2342, LAN 2348, RMS 2360, MHN 2366, NAM 2367, NAM 2374 & PHN 2381 were re-located to Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre. In conjunction with the THNSW Fleet, Vintage Rail Journeys (a subsidiary of NSWGR Holdings Pty Ltd) promoted 5 day/4 night rail tours operated by Lachlan Valley Railway. Nine tours in 2020/2021/2022 had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From November 2020 to April 2024, Vintage Rail Journeys conducted a total of Twenty Nine Tours. Train History Vintage Rail Journeys On 4 June 2024, Vintage Rail Journeys became part of Journey Beyond's portfolio of iconic Australian train experiences Australian Travellor
Fleet Details Most of the Southern Aurora cars entered service in February, March or April 1962, and except for those destroyed at Violet Town in 1969, they lasted until 1991. They were then stored until August 1994, at which point the final XPT deliveries rendered the Aurora fleet obsolete and they were dispersed among various collections.
Cars were allocated to either the New South Wales Railways or the Victorian Railways for maintenance purposes, and fitted with either 2BS or 2BU bogies respectively. The 2BU bogies were each half a ton heavier than their 2BS counterparts. NSW carriages were maintained at ACDEP while Victorian Railways carriages were transferred to South Dynon, then shifted across to temporary broad gauge bogies and run to Newport Workshops for maintenance, then returned by the same procedure. All PHN and MHN vans were allocated to New South Wales, and were fitted with 2CA bogies which had higher capacity due to 6R axle boxes/130mm axle journals and different secondary spring sets.
Dining cars (RMS) Three RMS dining cars were built for the Southern Aurora service. Numbered 2358 through 2360 and entering service in 1962, they used more or less the standard dining car interior with a kitchen at one end and two rows of six four-seater tables either side of a central aisle, for 48 diners at any time. The standard Aurora consist carried up to 200 passengers, so they could nearly all be served across four sittings; additional food facilities were provided in the BCS lounge car for the balance.
The kitchen area was about 28 ft long, plus a small staff compartment and staff toilet facility at the non-dining end of the carriage. External doors were only provided for kitchen access; passengers were expected to access the carriage from other cars, rather than directly. The New South Wales car weighed 43 tons, while the Victorian cars rated 44 tons because of the different bogie designs.
Lounge cars (BCS) Three BCS lounge cars were initially provided for the Southern Aurora service. BCS2355 and 2357 were allocated to New South Wales and operated on 2BU bogies, while BCS2356 was allocated to Victoria with 2BU bogies.
The cars had three saloon areas, provided with 27 movable chairs, 5 movable tables and 15 smokers' stands as well as some fixed lounge benches, for a total capacity of 40 passengers. A small kitchen area was also provided, but no toilet facilities. When fitted with 2BU bogies the cars were rated at 40 tons, or with 2BS bogies 39 tons. Roomette cars (LAN) Twenty LAN cars were built from 1959 to 1971. Cars 2323–2327 were the first built, and they were followed by 2344–2354, 2372 and 2376–2378.