Between 1936 and 1942, the South Australian Railways built 36 steel passenger cars at its Islington Railway Workshops for its country services. All were painted cream and green; they were repainted maroon and silver in the 1960s. Aside from a few written off after accidents, all passed to the Australian National Railways Commission in March 1978.South Australian Steel Cars Chris's Commonwealth Railways Pages. Retrieved 19 May 2026.

In the early 1980s, 14 were sold to SteamAge to operate charther services out of Melbourne. In 1987, they were sold to Australian Vintage Travel and converted from broad gauge to standard gauge for use on the Southern Cross Express luxury train in New South Wales."Southern Cross Express" Railway Digest October 1988 pp. 365-369. After that operation ceased, the cars were sold to Northern Rivers Railroad. From 1996, that company operated them from Casino, Queensland, on its Ritz Rail tourist train on the Murwillumbah line."Southern Cross Express cars sold" Railway Digest February 1990 p. 47."Intelligence" Railway Gazette International September 1991 p. 568.

A few remained in service when Australian National's passenger operations were sold to Great Southern Rail in 1997. Four were passed to the West Coast Railway in 1994. Others were sold to SteamRanger in South Australia. Today many are owned by Steamrail Victoria.Carriages Steamrail

History During the 1920s and early 1930s, the South Australian Railways were revolutionised under Commissioner Webb. After addressing the serious deficiencies in locomotives and freight rolling stock, Webb turned his attention to the quality of passenger accommodation on longer runs around the state. To address these failings, a new fleet of steel passenger carriages was constructed at Islington Workshops to enter service in 1936.

Design The first 12 cars were of a similar external design; first class carriages were numbered 500 through 503, and second class carriages 600 to 607, in keeping with Webb's preference for numeric over alphabetic categorisation. All cars were painted green with a cream band along the windows, and black for the undergear and roofs. Initially, bogies were fitted with plain bearings to accelerate construction and reduce costs.

All twelve were end-vestibule, side-corridor, compartment-type carriages; the first class cars had room for 42 passengers across seven compartments, and the second class carriages sat 64 in 8 compartments. Each compartment was accessed by twin wooden sliding doors, with etched glass panels fitted. Toilets and were provided at the vestibules. The interior of each car was fitted with polished timber panels, chrome fittings and drop-down windows; the first-class carriages had mirrors between compartments, and arm rests between each seat.

On these and subsequent cars, on either side of the end vestibule was a flap, contiguous with the floor, over which passengers walked on to or from station platforms. When moved to the vertical position (aided by a spring mechanism), the flap gave access to stairs that led to ground level at country stations that did not have a platform.

The cars received a very positive public reaction, and so construction continued with a new series of saloon carriages. These would become the 700, 750 and 780 class cars, with modified window spacings and slightly shorter bodies. These cars had a central aisle with seats either side and toilets in the centre (dividing the smoking and non-smoking sections). Cars 700-715 were exclusively second class, for 56 passengers across 14 bays of four seats; 750-753 were composite first (22) and second (24); and 780-783 were exclusively first class, with two seats on one side of the aisle and four on the other, for a total capacity of 38 passengers.

In the 1940s, several of the 700 class cars were fitted with carpet and higher quality seating, to match the standards of first class vehicles.

The drop-down windows eventually presented maintenance problems, so they were replaced with half-drop windows instead; the lower half of the window was fixed in place.

The cars were repainted to maroon and silver in the late 1960s, to broadly match the scheme of the newer air conditioned vehicles in use on the Overland and other trains.

Details

In 1973, car 783 was converted to a "departmental car". This involved stripping the interior, and fitting a kitchen and sleeping compartments for up to eight people, as support for the Vice-Regal car and Commissioner's car, Murray. The car was fitted with a 3-phase power supply, and this was used when the vehicle was included in the Commissioners' Train. As rebuilt, the car was painted red and allocated the code DC783. No air conditioning was fitted; the bogies had come from the Cafeteria Car, which had been shifted across to Commonwealth style bogies.

It was a common sight on broad-gauge passenger trains to Port Pirie circa 1978, when it provided head-end power for an RBJ buffet car while the Cafeteria Car was unavailable.

When the South Australian Railways was sold to the Australian Government in 1975 (to become Australian National Railways, later Australian National), the vehicle was retained by the South Australian State Government. It was officially withdrawn in 1986, then leased to SteamRanger and named Lowanna in 1990. In 1995 the car was transferred to become a static exhibit at the Port Dock Railway Museum (now National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide); ten years later it was sold to a person who placed the car under the care of the Victorian Goldfields Railway in Maldon. In 2022, the car was sold to 707 Operations.

In service

South Australian Railways (1936-1975) When the cars first entered service, they were used on fixed consists for specific rosters. As the fleet grew they replaced many of the older vehicles, which were progressively scrapped or held for occasional use such as on the Centenary Train.

Through the 1960s, windows were replaced and the exteriors were repainted from the green-cream-black scheme to a red-silver-black scheme, to match the livery applied to the newer fleet of air-conditioned country passenger cars and 900 and 930 class diesel-electric locomotives. Later, red covered the roofs and sides.

In 1962, car 705 caught fire, and the following year it was condemned, written off and scrapped.

Standard gauge use (1968-1974) In December 1968, four compartment carriages were converted to standard gauge, for use on the first runs between Peterborough and Broken Hill. The cars were 500, 501, 600 and 601, and these were included in the first passenger run on the new line, on 16 January 1969.

600 returned to broad gauge in 1972, and the other three in 1974, as they were superseded by other stock.

Australian National (1975-1997) The South Australian Railways was sold to the Australian federal government in 1975, and most of the rolling stock was included in that transfer. DC783 ex No.783 was retained by the State for special occasions; with 705 scrapped, that left 34 broad gauge carriages to be transferred.

Standard gauge use (1977-1991) In July 1977, three cars were transferred across to standard gauge for fast, mixed goods services. Cars 780, 781 and 782 became BF cars 343, 344 and 345 respectively. The BF code was defined as "non-air conditioned economy class sitting car with cooking facilities". It is not clear where any such cooking facilities may have been constructed, but they may have taken over the space previously allocated to the short (3-window) saloon. The cars were repainted into red with a tan roof, black undergear and silver stripes to match the scheme of the short-haul Commonwealth Railways passenger stock.

In November of the same year, 750 was transferred to standard gauge as BE346, a regular economy-class sitting carriage. It was followed in 1979 by 752 as BE351 and 1980 by 753 as BE352 and 751 as BE358.

In 1983, two cars were burnt; BE352 had one end destroyed on 13 August, so it was written off. BF344's interior was obliterated a few months later, such that the car shell was tipped off the track to recover only the bogies. Both were last noted at Stirling North in early 1988.

In 1990, cars BF343, BE346, BE351 and BE358 were stored at Port Pirie, leaving BF345 as the only class member still in service with Australian National. It was written off in November 1992, but instead of scrapping the vehicle was seconded to Islington Railway Workshops for refurbishment as an additional vehicle for The Explorer.

V/Line (1983-1992) When V/Line introduced its "New Deal for Country Passengers" in 1981, the intention was to provide an all-steel, all-air-conditioned fleet of carriages, and retire the old timber-bodied cars. The existing carriage fleet was not sufficient to achieve that goal so, while former suburban Harris carriages were undergoing refurbishment to become short-haul H-class cars, V/Line hired carriages 702, 703 and 715 from Australian National on 8 March 1983. Car 715 was found to have significant rust and was returned in May 1983. As a replacement, Australian National sent 500 on 16 September 1983, and 600 on 30 September 1983.

The hired cars were refurbished and painted in the older Victorian Railways scheme of blue with gold stripes, to avoid any impression that the vehicles were of the same quality as the new air-conditioned cars that were being introduced concurrently. The hired carriages were used as a fixed consist on services that were later run using the converted H-class cars. While in V/Line service, the South Australian cars were classed BK1 and BK2, AK1 and BKL3, ex 702, 703, 500 and 600 respectively. BK1 was the first to enter service on 3 June 1983, followed by BK2 on 13 August 1983, AK1 on 17 October 1983 and BKL3 on 14 December 1983.Bray, Vincent & Gregory, Steel & Special Coaching Stock of Victoria, 2009, , p. 103.

Circa 1986, AK1 was reclassified from first class to economy, to match the single-class, short-haul H-type carriages. It is not known if the capacity of the car was increased from 42 to 56, but that is unlikely. In 1991, BK2 had one of its toilet compartments converted to a conductor's office, eliminating the need to use a guard's van.

During its time with V/Line, car 607 was sold privately, refurbished, painted blue and gold, and reclassified 1BH. It was offered to V/Line for use on regular services but that was deemed unnecessary and, in 1987, the car was restored to its previous identity.

CodeSet No.FromToCar FCar ECar DCar CCar BCar A (East end)CapacityWeightLengthChanges to achieveNotesKNo number1983-08-031991-04-16BK1(?)BK2(?)BKL3(?)AK1218154t82mOrder of cars uncertainKNo number1991-04-171992-07-13BK2BK1(?)BKL3(?)AK1218154t82mBK2 fitted with conductor's compartmentOrder of middle cars uncertain.

The Explorer (1993) The four V/Line cars were returned to Australian National on 13 July 1992, and placed into storage. After a short period they were refurbished and repainted into a blue, yellow and white scheme for a new tourist train called The Explorer, but the project was soon abandoned and the cars were returned to indefinite storage. Cars BE358 (ex 751) and BF345 (ex 782) were to be included in the project, but the refurbishment had not started when it became clear that the project was short-lived.

Disposal In 1981, most of Australian National's fleet of non-air conditioned vehicles was sold off.

Cars 503, 602, 606, 701, 704, 706, 710 and 712 were purchased by SteamRanger and restored for use on their line.

Cars 501, 502, 601, 603, 604, 605, 607, 700, 707, 708, 709, 711, 713 and 714 were purchased by SteamAge and transferred to Victoria, with the intent to operate mainline tours behind locomotive R766.

The November 1985 Newsrail records the following dispositions, but does not acknowledge the 750 or 780 classes: