First Class sitting cars These carriages were built from 1906 with eight compartments, each seating 6 first-class passengers for a total of 48 along with a lavatory/wash basin arrangement at either end of each carriage. In the first four carriages, two compartments at the Gentlemen's end were reserved for Smoking travellers, while another two compartments adjacent to the Ladies lavatory were reserved for ladies only; this was later reduced to one Ladies compartment, with the Non-Smoking compartment count increased from four to five. Although all construction was at Newport, only around 25 of the carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways; the remainder (spread fairly randomly throughout the class) were constructed at least partially by contractors in the Newport area. Car 36AE was notable as this car was the prototype car for air conditioning carriages in VR service, the test for the "Spirit of Progress" cars. 36AE entered service 13 December 1935, after air conditioning modifications, which took seven months to complete. In 1961, it was renumbered 49BE. The car was destroyed in a derailment at Laverton during 1978. Some cars were leased to the South Australian Railways following World War II; as of 1950 they included 4AE, 11AE, 13AE, & 14AE. In 1952 cars 7 & 8AE were sold to the South Australian Railways to become their 550 & 551. The cars were later forwarded to the
Commonwealth Railways, with 550 being written off in 1993, and 551 (after other incarnations) preserved by
the Ghan Preservation Society in Alice Springs. 9AE was also leased to the SAR for a period in February 1954. Cars 15AE, later replaced by 38AE and finally
5G were coupled between two electric
swing door motor cars or parcels vans, to run around the entire suburban system while fitted with Hallade track recording equipment. The consist with an AE car was sighted on the Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines in 1952, and 2CM-38AE-1CM was seen on 4 December 1955, in that case with the leading CM powered and the trailing CM dead-attached with the pantograph lowered. In the early 1960s, some AE cars had their bogies switched with those formerly under the Spirit of Progress carriages, as those cars were converted to standard gauge. However, while the bogie frames were transferred, it is thought that the AE cars may have retained their spoked
wheelsets(?). Around the same time, AE 36, 1, 3, & 12 were re-coded as BE cars 49 to 52, with their seats removed and replaced for eight per compartment, total 64. 50BE stayed in that form, though the latter two cars were converted back to AE classification in the early 1980s as numbers 51 & 52. In 1970 car 37AE was taken off register, but in 1971 it was converted to the second HW 1 as a crew car for the Weedex train. In this form it ran around Victorian lines, while the train sprayed weed-killer onto the tracks. It was used in this form from 1971 to 1995.. Coordinates are 37°45'57.8"S, 144°59'03.7"E. 28AE's body was sold privately and spent some time in Warrnambool before being moved to Codrington.
Buffet & Restaurant cars 34AE was converted to a buffet car in 1937 and named Taggerty two years later. In this form a kitchen and long counter facing eighteen seats filled most of the carriage, with three first-class compartments seating the same number of passengers in the rest of the carriage. Taggerty ran in VR long-distance services, most often on the 12 noon Melbourne to Bendigo, returning on the 5:04 pm. The vehicle was sold in 1983 and it now resides in a park in Donald. 21AE & 26AE were intended to follow Taggerty, but this work was held off during World War II. As work had already started the vehicles could not be pressed back into service, so they spent the war in the Newport Workshops compound. In 1955 the cars were finally finished, re-entering service as air-conditioned Restaurant cars: three compartments were retained but the rest of the car stripped out, being replaced with a buffet module with an eating area. The cars were named Kiewa and Moyne respectively. A John Buckland photo of Moyne in 1958 at Dimboola shows that it was fitted with ex-Spirit of Progress bogies.
Partial-Saloon cars In 1959 the restaurant cars Kiewa and Moyne were withdrawn as a failed experiment. They had their eating areas removed, being replaced with saloon-style seating, before re-entering service in 1961. The cars were listed in the Working Time Table as second-class vehicles sitting 64 (though two of those seats were unreserved adjacent to the men's lavatory), as the compartment seats had been replaced with four-across, eight per compartment. The result was three sets of eight seats in the compartment end, with the remaining 38 seats in a saloon format as 2+2, either side of a hallway. The saloon area was designated a smoking area, while the compartments were restricted to non-smoking passengers. The compartment walls that had previously supported the car roof were replaced in function by four columns along the saloon section. The 'G' in the code may have indicated Grampians, a Victorian mountain range the cars would often run past, though by the mid 1970s 1BG was exclusively allocated to services on the Yarram line. Later it was used as a radio test vehicle; it is now stored, awaiting restoration. 2BG was destroyed in a
Glenorchy level crossing smash, in 1971.
Composite First & Second Class sitting cars 10 cars were built between 1906 and 1909 at or near Newport Workshops, classed ABVE. The cars seated 23 first and 31 second class passengers in eight compartments. One Smoking compartment was located at each end of the carriage, adjacent to the two male lavatories, and two Ladies' compartments were in the middle, each connected directly to a centrally located Ladies lavatory (one of each class). As in the AVE and BVE cars, Ladies accessed their respective toilets from within each compartment, one seat having been omitted in lieu. Additionally, each car had a two-seat bench opposite the male toilets at each end, giving a total seating capacity of 58 passengers.
Second Class sitting cars These carriages were built from 1906 with nine compartments, each seating 8 second-class passengers for a total of 72 along with a lavatory/wash basin arrangement at either end of each carriage. Like the AVE cars, the first four cars had two compartments at the Gentlemen's end were reserved for Smoking travellers, while another two compartments adjacent to the Ladies lavatory were reserved for ladies only; this was later reduced to one Ladies compartment, with the Non-Smoking compartment count increased from five to six. BVE cars numbered 5 and higher began their lives with two Smoking, 6 Non-Smoking, and 1 Ladies compartment each. This hypothesis is supported by Parsons, who further noted the smell of fish emanating from the train before departure from Adelaide. The fish traffic is believed to have continued through the mid 1960s, as the
CD vans being built at the time were similarly fitted with fish compartments. The fleet was further expanded from 1923, with vans 26 to 32 built to the same design (numbers 26 & 27 were added to the Joint Stock fleet), as well as vans 33 to 37 built with an arched roof similar to the then-new W type carriage design, which were also fitted with four-wheel (two-axle), rather than six-wheel (three-axle) bogies. Between 1926 and 1928, vans 11 to 14 had one of their guards' compartments removed at one end to make way for two transversely mounted coffin chambers. The end door was sealed as a result, although the vestibule connection remained. In 1963 35CE was modified for standard gauge service. It was reclassed to 1VHE: (V) Victoria; (H) (NSW guards van code); (E) (E-car van), although in 1969 the van was restored to its former identity and gauge. From the late 1970s vans 35CE, 36CE and 37CE were specifically rostered on the
Vinelander service to Mildura, and at least two of them had stencils on the underframe sides indicating that rostering. By 1980 35CE and 37CE had been fitted with a desk in lieu of the raised observation seats at the canopy ends. However, in January 1980 the service was worked alternately between 10CE and 37CE. 33CE was the only wooden vehicle to be painted in the
VicRail orange 'Teacup' livery. 18CE, owned by Victrack, is currently serviceable thanks to the efforts of Steamrail Victoria. 31CE, also owned by Victrack, is currently under restoration by the
Victorian Goldfields Railway. It is thought that both 13CE & 19CE were originally leased to Steamrail, but no record of either van has been seen since. 5CE is preserved in Bright at a museum at the former railway station, one of only two South Australian Railways-built E cars to survive. The bodies of 7 & 16CE were noted at Drouin, 8CE at Narre Warren North, 10 & 21CE at Officer, The body of 11CE at Cassilis, 20CE at Hanging Rock, 23CE at Beaconsfield, 24CE at Warrnambool, 30CE near Neilborough, 33CE at Gembrook, and 36CE at Yea.
Composite Second (sitting), Guard and Mail Sorting cars A batch of ten ESBV carriages were built in 1909-1910, generally to the standard E design, but with about half the carriage devoted to mail sorting, for use on express trains on runs such as Melbourne to Bendigo. The cars had two seats at one end opposite the male lavatory, one smoking compartment, three standard, and one ladies' compartment, giving a total seating capacity of 41 passengers. The latter compartment had direct access to the ladies' lavatory from within the compartment, at the expense of one seat. The ladies lavatory was directly opposite a staff lavatory, which adjoined the staff-only mail sorting compartment, which was a little under long. The mail compartment contained a sorting desk with a pintsch-gas heated wax pot (for letter sealing), In 1913-14, the last three BDSE cars were modified internally; the ladies compartment and lavatory were removed, replaced with an expanded mail sorting area a little under long, but with only two seats, 21 mail bag frames, and 12 pigeon holes. In addition, three compartments were smoking and one non-smoking, a reversal of the former arrangement. Notably, all four compartments were now gentleman-exclusive. The external sliding doors near the middle of the car were not moved, but an additional pair of sliding doors were added at the non-passenger end of the carriages. The capacity of these cars was recorded as 36, but that didn't appear to count the two seats opposite the male lavatory. It is thought that these changes were made to allow for the reduced need to sort mail en route, as postal sorting capabilities increased. Between Decembers of 1922 and 1923, BDSE cars 8, 9, & 10 had their mail sorting facilities removed, being replaced by regular passenger compartments. The cars were renumbered to 44, 45, & 46BE respectively, joined by 3 & 5BDSE in 1929; these last two became 47 & 48BE. These cars had room for 76 passengers in lieu of the normal 72, and as such in later years were classed BEL. Travelling post office operations ceased in 1932, and three years later the remaining five BDSE carriages were converted from mail sorting use to combined passenger and baggage van use, as class BCE, renumbered 1 to 5 (from 4, 1, 2, 6, & 7 respectively). (A third EES car was converted from O 17 in 1908, although it was a completely different design and completely unrelated to the E series. Built in Adelaide in 1887, it became 3DS in 1910. In 1922 it was converted to a Way & Works car 4WW, but had been scrapped by 1938.) In the 1910 re-coding the EES cars became 1 & 2DS (not to be confused with the later DS van of the Spirit of Progress). Travelling post office operations ceased on the Melbourne-Adelaide corridor on 28 June 1917. In March 1928 they were converted to standard baggage cars and renumbered to 3 & 4D. Bau notes that 4D, at least, retained its end windows when initially converted from mail sorting to mail storage,but later photos show the sides including those windows plated over.[https://www.victorianrailways.net/pass%20cars/pass%20car%20pages/d_van/d3_d4_1972_del.jpg As 3D and 4D the mail vans survived until 1973, when they were written off at Islington. The underframes with floors were recycled as workshop transfer vehicles, for shifting heavy loads around. They were also used at one point to transfer bridge beams, until one frame failed after being overloaded. The ESBV and EES cars introduced the North American style of TPO fittings, with bags suspended and held open by four hooks around a frame instead of the bags just hanging on pegs. Rather, the EEB cars were entirely empty save for two internal semi-partitions for strength, to be used for the transport of twenty tons of mail only.
Dining cars In 1908 three Dining cars entered service, Goulburn, Campaspe, and Wimmera, intended for use on the express trains to both Adelaide and Albury (Sydney). All three cars had ornate metal ceilings with high backed leather chairs. In each car the kitchen was fitted with an ice chest, a pintsch-gas stove, a sink, a workbench, and was capped with an open buffet at either end. This was centrally situated between two saloons, one seating 24 first class and the other 18 second class passengers, in a 2+1 row arrangement. A corridor on one side of the carriages allowed passengers and staff to walk between the two ends of the car, though the dining cars were generally marshalled between the first and second class portions of trains to avoid passengers of each class encountering those of the other. Beyond the corridor was a smoking compartment with one long window on each side and five chairs identical to those of the observation compartment. The smoking compartment had a door on each side opening to the platform, although one of the chairs had to be moved if the platform was on the compartment side rather than the corridor side. A short central corridor led to the inter-carriage vestibule, with a gentlemen's lavatory split over both sides: the toilet on the corridor side and the wash basin on the compartment side.
Yarra was restored by the
Australian Railway Historical Society in the 1960s and remains in service today. State Car No.4 was built in 1912 to a similar exterior design, although the internal fitments were replaced to effectively make the carriage a travelling hotel, with some sleeping compartments.
Yarra and State Car No.4 are both held at the
Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.
Sleeping cars Sixteen E-type sleeping cars were built at Newport Workshops, primarily for the Adelaide - Melbourne service. The first four cars had been built by 1908, and were originally named
Melbourne,
Ballarat,
Wolseley, and
Adelaide. In 1910, those cars were renamed
Loddon,
Glenelg,
Finniss, and
Torrens respectively, after rivers in the two states. In 1911,
Onkaparinga and
Barwon were built, followed by
Baderloo,
Dargo,
Pekina, and
Tambo in 1919. In 1923, four more cars were introduced, named
Angas,
Coliban,
Acheron, and
Inman, and a further two cars,
Buchan and
Wando, were constructed to a modified internal design, with the smoking/saloon area replaced with a tenth sleeping compartment, which was slightly longer than the others. Later, three more sleeping cars were built with a similar internal layout, and named
Werribee, Indi, and Ovens. As far as can be ascertained, only the first fourteen cars were built as shared vehicles. The last two,
Buchan and
Wando, appear to have been solely Victorian Railways rolling stock, built for running on the
Mildura line. That is reflected in the 1939 decision by the Victorian Railways, with no input from the South Australian Railways, to remove the names of those sleeping carriages and replace them with numbers 4 & 5, following on from
Werribee,
Indi, and
Ovens having been re-classified as Sleepers 1, 2, & 3 respectively. At the same time
Buchan/No.4 was fitted with an air conditioning unit, powered by axle-driven generators. Notably,
Buchan,
Acheron, and
Angas were built on the underframes originally used under E-type dining cars
Campaspe,
Goulburn and
Wimmera respectively.
The Overland From 1936, to introduce the new name for the Melbourne to Adelaide express, the named joint-stock cars were externally painted dark green, with
The Overland in chrome plated letters on the fascia panel above the windows. From 1943, the green scheme was replaced by the standard Victorian Railways bright red passenger-car livery.
Split fleet As steel cars were introduced to the Overland from late 1949, the timber cars were split among the two systems. In 1950, the South Australian Railways purchased Victoria's share in
Angas,
Dargo,
Finnis (ex
Wolseley),
Onkaparinga, and
Tambo, leaving nine cars in joint stock service.
Angas had been purchased in March and
Finnis in April. At time of sale, both were painted in the green and yellow scheme and, from the late 1950s, were fitted with half-drop windows and steel side-sheets. By the 1960s, both had been repainted into red with silver stripes, in something of a facsimile of the new Overland scheme. It seems likely that
Dargo and
Onkaparinga experienced the same changes, given that
Onkaparinga had the steel sides in place when it was finally withdrawn. However,
Tambo did not have steel sides fitted below the windows in 1985. A further four Joint Stock cars,
Baderloo,
Barwon,
Glenelg (ex
Ballarat), and
Torrens (ex
Adelaide), were condemned in 1967. It is likely that
Barwon and
Glenelg were scrapped
Baderloo was sold without bogies and moved to Junction Road,
Littlehampton, South Australia, and
Torrens was transferred to the then-new Australian Railway Historical Society museum in
Newport, Victoria, where it became a static exhibit.
South Australian cars The South Australian cars were allocated to the
Mount Gambier overnight service, with
Finnis and
Angas being externally rebuilt in 1953 to provide a better quality of travel.
Tambo,
Onkaparinga, and
Dargo were not refurbished, though, at some point,
Onkaparinga was fitted with steel sheeting over the sides in an attempt to preserve the timber. In 1972, the South Australian Railways sold
Onkaparinga to the Marbury School in
Aldgate, with bogies. In 1988, it was donated to the
Port Dock Station Railway Museum. In 1974,
Dargo was condemned and sold without bogies to a private property in
Lameroo, South Australia, where it was stored undercover.
Tambo followed in 1975. On 24 September 1976, while on the Mount Gambier run,
Angas caught fire due to a worn brake block generating sparks and heat. There were no injuries and passengers were transferred to an adjacent carriage, but most of the car was damaged and the repair cost was estimated to be "in excess of $30,000". As a result, the car was withdrawn from service. At the same time the other cars were withdrawn and placed into storage.
Finnis and
Angas were passed to the Australian Railway Historical Society's South Australian division, operating as
SteamRanger.
Finniss stayed at SteamRanger, where it still operates, while
Angas was sold to the Yorke Peninsula Railway, due to the high cost of repairing it.
Angas eventually ended up in New South Wales, where it was repaired and turned into B&B accommodation. It was planned that
Tambo would go to the
Pichi Richi Railway but, after being stored for several years at
Peterborough, it was transferred to SteamRanger in 1980, then awaiting restoration at their Dry Creek depot.
Tambo was sold to
West Coast Railway in the mid-1990s, and delivered to their Ballarat East depot in 1996. When West Coast Railway closed in 2004, the car was sold privately and it has since been restored to operational condition, though half-converted to a parlor-car style, similar to
Yarra and
Murray. It runs on the
Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR).
Acheron was allocated to the VGR in August 2017 and returned to service following restoration in 2022.
Coliban and
Inman were sold in 1997-98 and transferred by road to
Steamrail Victoria, operating out of the West Block of the
Newport Workshops. There, they joined
Werribee and
Indi. Most of the cars are now serviceable. Also at Newport,
707 Operations has
Buchan under restoration, and it was joined by
Wando in 2017.
Torrens is in the
Newport Railway Museum and, , its internal and external restoration was progressing. In the early 1990s, the majority of the Train of Knowledge consist, including sleeping carriages
Wando,
Acheron,
Pekina, and
Loddon, was allocated to the
Seymour Railway Heritage Centre. The first three were deemed surplus to requirements in 2017, with
Acheron transferred to the Victorian Goldfields Railway,
Pekina to the Overland Museum in
Nhill, and
Wando to 707 Operations. In 2010,
Onkaparinga was restored to early its 1950s condition at the
Port Dock Rail Museum. In 1986,
Baderloo was noted as being in poor condition and, in 2003, it was sold to Jim Emmett of the
Mount Lofty railway station. The carriage was to be stabilised and transferred to the gardens of station, for restoration as a static exhibit. The move was called off because of difficulties in arranging transport, so the vehicle remained in Littlehampton, wrapped in tarps.
Dargo is currently undercover on private property. ==In service==