Global InformationVictorian Railways S type carriage information
 | This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. (June 2022) |
| S type carriage | |
|---|---|
 5AS, as preserved by Steamrail Victoria | |
 Interior of a BS car compartment | |
| Manufacturer | Victorian Railways |
| Built at | Newport Workshops |
| Family name | S type carriage |
| Replaced | E type carriage |
| Constructed | 1937-1956 |
| Entered service | 1937-2010 (1990s to present day with heritage operators) |
| Refurbished | 1980s |
| Scrapped | 1972 (7AS); 1984 (2VHN ex 1DS/2CS) |
| Operators | Victorian Railways, V/Line, West Coast Railway |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | 71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) for passenger cars; 59 feet 8 inches (18.19 m) for vans; 72 feet 1+1⁄4 inches (21.98 m) for State Car No. 5 |
| Car length | 74 ft 8 in (22.76 m) for passenger cars; 56 feet 10 inches (17.32 m) for vans; |
| Width | 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) (all); 10 ft 1+11⁄16 in (3.09 m) over handrails (broad gauge); 10 ft 5⁄8 in (3.06 m) over handrails (standard gauge); 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m) over tail-lights (Norman) |
| Height | 13 ft 6+11⁄16 in (4.13 m) for all except four Buffet cars; 13 ft 2+13⁄16 in (4.03 m) for buffet cars |
| Articulated sections | Rubber corridor connectors |
| Wheel diameter | 3 ft 0 in (0.91 m) |
| Wheelbase | 8 ft 0 in (2.44 m) |
| Maximum speed | 70 mph (113 km/h) |
| Power supply | Head-end power, previously axle driven generator |
| Bogies | 53 ft (16.15 m) centres, all except vans 38 ft (11.58 m) centres for vans |
| Braking system(s) | Westinghouse air brake |
| Coupling system | Automatic |
| Headlight type | Incandescent, later fluorescent |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), have operated on 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The S type carriages are a corridor-type passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The first carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways in 1937 for use on the Spirit of Progress, with additional carriages built for other trains until the mid-1950s.
Introduced by Victorian Railways Chairman of Commissioners Harold Clapp for the Spirit of Progress service between Melbourne and Albury, the carriages lasted through many decades of regular service, with more than one operator.
Two major variants of the S-type carriage were constructed: AS first-class cars with 3+3 seating in each compartment, and BS second-class cars with 4+4 seating. A handful of other cars were constructed for various specialist purposes. A number of conversions were carried out in later years, with the addition of beds to some to create sleeping cars, and buffet modules fitted to others to provide on-board catering facilities. The BRS buffet cars were the most recent conversion, made as part of the New Deal reforms on Victorian regional railways in the early 1980s.
The cars saw little use after the early 1990s, due to the introduction of the Sprinter railcars, and most were disposed of. A number were sold to West Coast Railway (WCR), with others being allocated to preservation groups such as Steamrail Victoria, 707 Operations and the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre. After the demise of WCR, some of their cars were converted to crew cars for interstate trains, while others were on-sold to the same preservation groups listed above. A handful of sitting carriages were retained by V/Line to bolster their normal fleet.
The five BS cars owned by V/Line were retired in July 2006,[1] almost 69 years after their introduction. However, owing to a boom in patronage, and the Kerang rail accident, from late September 2007 they were re-introduced to service as a dedicated train set on the Geelong line, to replace set N7.[2] That set was finally withdrawn from service on 9 August 2010, running the 7:47am service from South Geelong to Southern Cross. All of V/Line's remaining S-type carriages have since been sold or allocated to preservation groups.
- ^ V/Line Cars.com - BS Carriages Archived 13 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 19 October 2006
- ^ Railpage Australia: Car Set SN7 (later SZ7) to enter service this week