In service Following the successful trial of four double-deck power cars built by
Tulloch in 1969, 53
Series 1 power cars were ordered from
Comeng and delivered in 1972–73. They were paired with 1964–66
Tulloch-built trailer carriages that had previously operated in company with
single deck power cars. The first 39 were painted tuscan to match the trailer cars while the last 14 were painted in the newly introduced
Public Transport Commission blue and white livery. Subsequent orders saw another 154 power cars, 67 trailer cars and 85 driving trailer cars built by Comeng. These were all built to the
Series 2 design with
Budd type polished inserts on the carriage sides, flat rather than tapered number 2 ends, throw-over rather than sliding reversible seats, upgraded interior lights and a natural stainless steel finish. In April 1982, ten driving trailers were introduced on local services between
Scarborough and
Port Kembla. They were targeted as PK sets, and operated in two-car sets. These PK sets ran until the line was electrified in December 1985. They were hauled by
48 class diesels but because of incompatibility between the electrical systems, the guard operated doors were disconnected. This stock was allocated to
Mortdale and periodically rotated. In August 1989, this was reduced to two sets. In September 1989, the remaining NC sets were replaced by two carriage L sets from
Hornsby. These were replaced in January 1992. In May 1987, the ten newest driving trailers based at
Hornsby were renumbered D4001–D4010 and were permanently coupled to their accompanying motor cars to address the Union's issue of uncomfortable kicks. The remainder began to have their control equipment removed and revert to ordinary trailers. To allow the
Tangaras to be targeted as T sets, the remaining two-car sets became L sets in April 1988. To operate services on the newly electrified
Riverstone to
Richmond line from August 1991, all 10 driving trailers and a number of
Series 1 power cars were fitted with headlights. From October 1996, two-car L sets replaced
U sets on suburban services between
Thirroul,
Port Kembla and
Kiama. These were later extended to three cars before being replaced by
Tangaras in October 2011. During their history, S sets operated on all Sydney lines. The last six car R sets were deemed life expired in August 2012, with all carriages formed into four car S sets (which were typically operated in pairs). The last sets were transferred from
Mortdale to
Flemington in March 2013 bringing an end to their operation on
Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra services. However, one set remained operational through parts of March and April on the line. In May 2014, all Hornsby sets were transferred to Flemington. All remaining 498 carriages were to be replaced by
A sets from 2012, with the last scheduled for replacement in 2015. In March 2013, it was revealed that forty eight S sets would need to be retained after the full introduction of the A sets, as the option to build further A sets had lapsed, meaning no trains had been ordered for the
South West Rail Link. The last
Series 1 power car was withdrawn in January 2014. The final A set was delivered in June 2014. Following the delivery of the final A sets, Sydney Trains retained 48 four-car sets (192 carriages). In June 2014, the government announced that all timetabled services except those on the
T7 Olympic Park shuttle, would be operated by air-conditioned trains. The new B sets replaced timetabled K set runs, while the K sets moved on to S set runs. The remaining S sets were mostly phased out by the end of April 2019, with the introduction of an updated timetable of the Sydney Trains network. All of the final sets were withdrawn by June 2019. On 27 June 2019,
Transport Minister Andrew Constance joined
Sydney Trains Chief Executive Howard Collins and rail employees on a farewell run from
Central Station across the
Sydney Harbour Bridge to
Lavender Bay. The last timetabled S set service ran on the following night, on 28 June 2019, on the T7 Olympic Park Line with sets S140 (C3057, T4141, T4983, and C3947) and S61 (C3930, T4030, T4037 and C3931). Two public farewell events were held on Sunday 21 July 2019. The final revenue S set service was a special charter on the afternoon of 21 July, organised by the
Sydney Electric Train Society and operated in conjunction with
Transport Heritage NSW and Sydney Trains. During their final days S sets operated on the following lines: •
T2 Inner West and Leppington Line:
Leppington/
Parramatta to
City via
Granville •
T3 Bankstown Line:
Liverpool/
Lidcombe to
City via
Bankstown •
T6 Carlingford Line:
Clyde to
Carlingford •
T7 Olympic Park Line:
Lidcombe To
Olympic Park •
T8 Airport and South Line:
Macarthur To
City via
Airport/
Sydenham == Preservation ==