Victorian Railways narrow-gauge freight vehicles

The NQR class of trucks were the staple of the Victorian Railways' narrow gauge fleet. 218 examples were constructed between 1898 and 1914, designed as an open wagon with removable end panels as well as three drop-down but removable doors either side. When assembled into the open wagon format these wagons were designed to have the same capacity (weight and volume) as a normal broad gauge four-wheel open truck, to make load transferring easier at the interchange stations—Colac, Wangaratta, Upper Ferntree Gully and Moe. The goods truck code had been derived from the conceptually similar broad-gauge QR trucks, which had removable sides to permit various types of loading. Previously, "Q" had been used for bogie flat wagons and "R" for bogie open trucks. Some of the original trucks were apparently provided with end sliding doors and three trapdoors in the floors, but these elements were not retained in future builds; Over the years, a number of NQRs were provided with removable wood and steel frameworks with canvas roof canopies and side curtains, and internal seating to supplement the rest of the passenger stock during busy holiday periods. Vehicles known to have been so-fitted include 86NQ On 9 September 1954 six NQ wagons, nos 94, 100, 102, 153, 169 and 208, were sold from Moe station to the Forests Commission. Coincidentally, the quantity of six wagons matches the number taken from Gould station to Moe after the last official train operated on 25 June 1954; the transfer was made by engine 7A and van 7NBC on 29 June 1954. In 1965 the Victorian Railways transferred a set of two NC vans, three NU wagons and four NQ wagons, one of which (NQ149) was fitted with a water tank, to Upper Ferntree Gully, from which they were handed over to the Preservation Society, in order to assist with the extension and reopening to Emerald station. In goods service are NQR wagons 21, 29, 91, 186 and 216 with a capacity of and a tare weight of ; It was rated as weighing when empty, or when full. This vehicle has a tare weight of and a loading capacity of , Current fleet The Railway also possesses untraffickable trucks: NQ 19 is configured for pulpwood, and open NQRs 59, 92, 103, 125, 142, 151, 153 and 203. There are also five off-register NQR wagons, numbers 23, 26, 94, 110 and 169. Additionally, the latter document notes that NQR87 was owned by "Shires and Councils" as a general category rather than any one specifically, and that plenty of underframe exchanges have happened between rolling stock used on the Puffing Billy Railway. According to that, the underframes of NQR100 and NQR208, privately owned, were used in the construction of 21NBH and 20NBH respectively, and many other vehicles have had their underframes swapped or transplanted at various times. Gallery of NQR variants Image:NQR with end doors at Wangaratta, probably around the same time as photos of 1NA and 2NA.jpg|NQR with end doors at Wangaratta Image:79NQ Upper Ferntree Gully modified for sheep transport.jpg|79NQ Upper Ferntree Gully modified for sheep transport - doors closed Image:79NQ Upper Ferntree Gully modified for sheep transport 2.jpg|79NQ Upper Ferntree Gully modified for sheep transport - doors open Image:172NQ Upper Ferntree Gully framework for excursion traffic canvas, later used for sheep traffic.jpg|172NQ Upper Ferntree Gully framework for excursion traffic canvas, later used for sheep traffic. 86NQ was similarly modified. == Cattle trucks—NMM, later NM ==

This class consisted of 15 vehicles. Construction started in 1899, but the first NMM did not enter service until 1903. After this the rest of the class followed slowly, with the last of the class not entering service until 1917. They looked similar to the MM cattle trucks, despite being built 25 years earlier. The trucks ere fitted with four doors in the corners, each of which comprised a lower half that dropped down to form a ramp and an upper half made of two outward-swinging panels. The curved roof was corrugated iron. Full-length footboards were originally fitted on each side, but these and some handrails were later removed. Additionally, most of the fleet had an internal partition fitted later, to split the wagon capacity into two equal compartments. As part of the late 1920s recoding, the class was altered to NM. Around the same time, all but the class leader had autocouplers fitted (1 NM was not converted until 1941). In the mid-1920s there was a derailment on the Moe–Walhalla line. In the consist were NM vehicles. It was determined that the derailment was caused by "spooked" horses in an NM vehicle. The vehicle was coupled next to an NA tank engine which was running bunker first. The smoke from the funnel apparently was the reason for the distress. After this investigation, the ends of all the NM class were progressively boarded up. As the narrow-gauge lines were closed, the trucks were sold off. Most were scrapped; 13 NMM is used by Puffing Billy on wood trains, and 6 NM was recently rescued from a farm and is currently in storage awaiting restoration. == Louvre trucks—NUU, later NU ==

The standard louvred truck design for the Victorian narrow-gauge lines, the NUU vehicles, were constructed in three batches; the first seven from 1899 to 1901, an eighth in 1906 and the last six in 1911, for a total class of fourteen. They looked very similar to the U trucks of the broad-gauge. These trucks were painted white until approximately 1910, as shown in two photographs of NUU 1. Given construction dates, it is likely that van 8NUU entered service painted brown, and the same is probable for vans 9-14. Speed Limit 20 Plus further notes that 8NU and 11NU were sold to the Shire of Oxley as storage units in the council depot at Moyhu; 11NU was subsequently shifted to Wangaratta, and was destroyed by fire in 1978. 2NU was sold to the Whitfield General Store, and has since been preserved at Erica on the former Walhalla line. 8NU was donated to the predecessor of the Walhalla Goldfields Railway, though it has since been forward to Puffing Billy. Speed Limit 20 Plus records 7NU and 11NU, circa 2017, being stored at Moyhu pending preservation; the latter is most likely 12NU, as Vincent notes 7NU and 12NU stored at Moyhu pending preservation in January 1994. Nos. 6 and 1 were scrapped in 1957 and 1958 respectively, while in 1954 van 13, isolated at Cockatoo, was recorded as being sold to the Puffing Billy Preservation Society. In 1977, the remaining vans 3, 10 and 14 were handed over to the Emerald Tourist Railway Board, and removed from Victorian Railways records. The Puffing Billy Railway now possesses vans 3, 8, 10, 13 and 14. NW Between 1972 and 1977, 10 NU was lettered as 10 NW, indicating its use as a workmen's sleeper. == Covered truck with explosives accommodation—NPH, later NH ==

In June 1910, it was decided that a truck for the transportation of explosives would be useful for the Moe-Walhalla line, which served a gold-mining town; the rail line had been built from Moe to provide a faster means of transportation than bullock teams from the sailing boats from Melbourne to Port Albert/Sale via Heyfield. NPH 1 was built on the standard design of underframe as most other narrow-gauge stock, but because it was not anticipated that explosives traffic would require use of the entire wagon, it was partitioned to give capacity for explosives, while the remaining 6 tons was for general goods. Unlike the NU and NT classes, this meant that the van had four double doors total. Internally the van was at the sides, while the curved roof gave an internal height at the centre of . However, in late March 1911 the wagon had been converted to entirely general goods use, with the partition removed and a recoding to NH 1, the "H" in the class being a reference to the broad-gauge H covered trucks then in use. The vehicle was allowed to carry 10 tons of general goods. At the time of the modification its eight iron-plate doors (four sets of double, outwards-swinging doors) were replaced with louvred doors similar to those of the NUU vans. It gained autocouplers in 1928. After the Whitfield line was closed in late 1953 it was sold, along with a number of NU Louvre vans, to the scrap dealer Coulston & Hyder. The van was then onsold to the Shire of Oxley as a storage unit in the council depot at Moyhu. 1NH was donated to the Puffing Billy Railway in 1968 and placed in the Menzies Creek museum. As of 2009 the van was recorded as on the Puffing Billy Railway's rolling stock register, but in an untrafficable condition. == Insulated truck—NTT, later NT ==

In October 1899 a single insulated truck, NTT 1, was built for the transportation of goods that needed to be kept cold, such as raw meat and dairy products. Like the NUU trucks, it was painted white from new, being repainted the standard venetian red of goods stock from about 1910. Its walls were thick, reducing the interior space, and insulated with cow hair. though it must have been there since the bushfires in February 1952 when locomotive-hauled services ceased beyond Moyhu. At some point the full-length footboards were replaced with shorter units the same as fitted to the NU louvre vans. It was retained on the rolling stock register through 1958, but its whereabouts were unknown until a decade later when it was discovered in a scrap metal yard in Maribyrnong; it was then donated to the Puffing Billy Railway, and found its way to the Menzies Creek museum. In September 2008 it was removed from the museum and shunted via Belgrave to Emerald for restoration, as a static storage facility at Belgrave associated with the Luncheon and Night trains. Today, 1NT is used at Belgrave station for storage. == Workshop Transfer wagon Q129 ==

Q129 is a broad gauge skeletal flat wagon built in June 1926, initially to transfer the Garratt locomotives' engine units from Newport to Colac and Moe, and later used for the NA class engines as well. It is now preserved at the Menzies Creek Steam Museum adjacent to Menzies Creek railway station on the Puffing Billy Railway. == Preservation era ==

Under the Emerald Tourist Railway Board, a range of rolling stock from other systems in Australia have been acquired and regauged for use on the Puffing Billy Railway to cater for the increased demand. The primary example of goods vehicle is the acquisition from the Tasmanian Government Railways of a number of ballast hopper trucks. QG3 was the first to be converted for narrow gauge use, with an "N" prefix added when it entered service in 1972. In 2003 the truck's identity was altered to be consistent with Victorian Railways goods coding practise, with the new code of NNN1 representing the pre-1926 style. A second ex-TGR QG wagon has since entered service on Puffing Billy as NNN2, formerly Tasmanian Railways ballast hopper QG18. == Notes==