New South Wales W set

Between 1956 and 1960, 40 power cars and 40 trailer cars were built by Commonwealth Engineering for the New South Wales Government Railways. They were ostensibly built to provide rolling stock for the newly electrified Parramatta to Penrith section of the Main Western line, and they operated across the Sydney suburban network. 80 carriages were built by 1960. They operated as eight car sets, being targeted as S sets and were the first trains to have their target plates distinguish the type, in contrast to the previously built sets, of which the target plates correspond to the depot they were located to. The S stood for "Safety Doors". The displaced trailer carriages had their power door equipment disconnected at Elcar workshops, where they were fitted with manually operated door equipment and pooled with the Standard and Tulloch stock. These were renumbered upwards by 50, e.g. T4701 became T4751. While they were targeted differently, they were still kept at the same four depots as the other single deck suburban carriages until 1983, when the entire fleet was allocated to Punchbowl. Also repainted was trailer T4785 on set "H22" which was repainted as "The Tiger" in March 1991. Overhauls of the stock continued up until 1988, with some receiving sliding aluminium Beclawat windows to alleviate rust problems. Most of the trailer cars remained in service until the end of single deck operation in January 1992. The remaining motor cars remained in service for a slightly long period because of their powered doors, but they were eventually succeeded by the new "Tangara" T sets built by A Goninan and co. The last power cars were withdrawn in November 1993 with some carriages were scrapped across the network alongside the Standard and Tulloch cars that had been retired the same and the year before. The last train to be withdrawn was set W2. == Construction and distinguishing features ==

The W set cars were broadly similar to the Tulloch built carriages, built earlier in the 1950s, they differed in having twin motors on both bogies, as opposed to two on the bogie below the pantograph like older power carriages. This meant they were electrically incompatible with the previously built suburban cars, but were compatible with the interurban cars also built by Comeng around the same period. Like previous built stock, their tractive equipment was provided by Metropolitan-Vickers. These cars were additionally fitted with power operated doors, as well as being of spot welded construction rather than riveted like previously built suburban carriages, and the crew compartment door set further back with a larger cab in the power cars. They only received a sun shade over the driver's window. To make up for the archaic technology of air-conditioning at the time, a row of ventilators were placed on the roof. As the carriages had powered doors, vent slits were put into the doors to make up for the inability to be opened manually, as well as extra ventilators on the roof next to the doors. == Preservation ==

Several carriages remain in preservation. On 26 October 1993, a single four car set (C3702, T4801, T4814 and C3708) was withdrawn from service and became known as "W3". These carriages were repainted Tuscan red with a two-tone green interior, and a headboard placed at each end of the train. In 1997, several members left the group over differences in how carriage ownership should be tackled, and formed Historic Electric Traction. W3 would go into their custody along with mixed single deck set F1 with the intent of taking care of them on behalf of the State Rail Authority. W3 would notably run on 3 March, 2001 to celebrate 75 years of electric rolling stock in New South Wales. W3 would run until 2005, after which the train went into storage at Redfern with F1, which had been stored there three years prior. 15 years later, efforts were made to bring W3 back to the mainline for charter services. This difficult task started back in 2016 following the certification of set F1. Unlike F1, W3 was in much worse condition and it would take five years to get the train ready for mainline use. Also, unlike F1, it was decided that each carriage would be repainted in different liveries to showcase suburban transportation over the course of 36 years of their service lives. In the case of the former, car C3708 had a flat wheel and could not run under its own power, and so it was transferred back to Flemington with the help of set K76 upon the end of the expo. As of 2025, W3 has yet to perform in charter service since its 2020s' restoration. Also in Historic Electric Traction's custody is trailer T4790, the last single deck suburban carriage built by Commonwealth Engineering in New South Wales that is planned to be put into charter service as a new trailer carriage for set F1. Privately owned cars On 24 November, 1998, four cars were sold to members of the Sydney Electric Train Society. On 8 May, 2019, C3704 was removed from the Australian Technology Park and relocated to Taree to a private buyer. It was previously owned by 3801 Limited (now East Coast Heritage Rail) and was used as a site office. Some cars have been converted into housing and similar structures. ==References==