SX carriages

The SX carriages were a type of passenger carriages constructed by Commonwealth Engineering for the Queensland Railways in 1961/62.

SXV 1662 from set 38 at Ipswich

History

The SX carriage stainless steel bodyshells were constructed by Commonwealth Engineering, Granville with the fitout undertaken at Rocklea in 1961/62. They were built to operate suburban services on the Brisbane rail network.[1] They shared many components with the New South Wales U set carriages.[2]

Initially hauled by steam and later diesel locomotives, provision was made for their conversion to electric multiple units once the network was electrified. Sixteen seven-carriage sets were completed. The conversion never occurred and they were gradually replaced from the 1980s as EMUs and SMUs entered service.[1] The last was withdrawn on 2 December 1999.[3]

DBR class locomotive 1254 with an SX carriage at Westfield, Auckland in 2007.

To allow extra services to be operated during the 1987 America's Cup yacht regatta in Fremantle, 14 were leased to Transperth in October 1986. Initially intended as a short-term deal, they would remain in Perth until returned to Queensland in 1991.[4][5] Others were exported to the Auckland Regional Council,[6] Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia and State Railway of Thailand.[1][7]

One set (7 cars) has been retained by Queensland Rail's Heritage Division[8] while others have been preserved including seven at the DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum,[9] another set in Cairns with Cairns Kuranda Steam Pty Ltd (stored in Cairns) and a set owned by Queensland University of Technology (stored at Ipswich).

References
  1. Dunn, John (2010). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering Volume 2: 1955-1966. Kenthurst: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 254–260. ISBN 1877058734.
  2. "Great Survivors" Railway Digest September 1998 page 21
  3. "Brisbane Surburban Loco-Hauled Train Finale" Railway Digest January 2000 page 8
  4. Gray, Bill; May, Andrew (2006). A History of WAGR Passenger Carriages. Perth: Bill Gray. pp. 324–328. ISBN 0-646-45902-3.
  5. Higham, Geoffrey (2007). Marble Bar to Mandurah: A history of passenger rail services in Western Australia. Bassendean: Rail Heritage WA. p. 233. ISBN 978 0 9803922 0 3.
  6. Queensland Rail SX Carriages Zig Zag Railway
  7. Three QR SX sets for State Rail Thailand Queensland Rail Heritage
  8. Stainless steel (SX) Carriages Queensland's Great Trains
  9. SX Carriages DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum
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