Commonwealth Engineering

Preserved former Sydney Albion Venturer in Glasgow in October 2009

Preserved Mount Newman Mining MLW M636 diesel locomotive in April 2012

FreightCorp 8606 at Junee Roundhouse Railway Museum in March 2011

TransAdelaide 2000 class railcar at Woodlands Park in April 2007

Westrail's The Australind at Claisebrook in April 2002

CityRail V set at Central in December 2007

Connex Melbourne Comeng in December 2005

CountryLink RUB carriage at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot in December 2012

Z class Melbourne tram 168 at Preston Workshops in August 2007

Hong Kong Light Rail Phase I LRV in February 2009

Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engineering, was founded in 1921, in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown, as a body builder for custom motor cars. It went bankrupt in the Depression, and was reformed as Waddingtons Body Works and the main factory was moved to Granville, after a fire in the main workshop. The Government of Australia took control of the company during World War II as the company was in serious financial difficulties but had many government orders in its books. The government purchased a controlling stake in the company in 1946 and changed the name to Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng).[1]

In 1949 a factory was established in Rocklea, Queensland. This was followed in 1952 a plant in Bassendean, Western Australia and in 1954 by another in Dandenong, Victoria. In June 1957, the government sold its shares. In November 1982 Comeng was taken over by Australian National Industries.

The Granville factory closed in 1989 and has been demolished. The site, which sat between the Great Western Highway and Main Western railway line west of Duck River, has been replaced with new developments that include high rise housing and light industry.

The Dandenong plant was sold in 1990 to ABB Transportation and is now operated by Bombardier Transportation while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co.

The history of Comeng has been published by John Dunn:

• Volume 1, 1921 – 1955 published in 2006[1]
• Volume 2, 1955 – 1966 published in 2008[2]
• Volume 3, 1967 – 1977 published in 2010[3]
• Volume 4, 1977 – 1985 published in 2013[4]
• Volume 5, 1985 – 1990 published posthumously in November 2013[5][6]

Commonwealth Engineering's products included:

Media related to Commonwealth Engineering at Wikimedia Commons