Commonwealth Engineering

"Comeng" redirects here. For the train model used in Melbourne, see Comeng (train).

Commonwealth Engineering

Industry	Engineering
Founded	1921
Defunct	1990
Fate	Acquired by ABB Transportation
Headquarters	Granville
Number of locations	Dandenong Rocklea Bassendean
Products	Railway rolling stock
Parent	Australian National Industries

Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as Comeng [/ˈkɒmɛndʒ/ KOM-enj], was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams.

History

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 Great 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.^[1]

In 1949 a factory was established in Rocklea, Queensland. This was followed in 1952 by 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 was situated between the Great Western Highway and Main Western railway line west of Duck River, has been replaced with new developments including high-rise housing and light industries.

In 1990, the Dandenong plant was sold to ABB (later Bombardier Transportation, now Alstom), while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co.

John Dunn has written a history of Comeng:

• 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]

Buses

Preserved former Sydney Albion Venturer in Glasgow in October 2009

Australian Capital Territory

• 60 Canberra Bus Service AEC Reliance 470s
• 30 Canberra Bus Service AEC Swift 505s

New South Wales

• 50 Leyland OPSU1/1s
• 50 AEC Regal IVs

Victoria

• 50 AEC Regal IIIs

Western Australia

Leyland OPSU1/1s

Diesel locomotives

New South Wales XPT XP2009 at Tallarook in November 2011.

New South Wales

• 8 BHP Port Kembla D1 class diesel locomotives
• 6 442 class diesel locomotives
• 10 70 class diesel hydraulic locomotives
• 50 80 class diesel electric locomotives
• 15 XPT power cars

Queensland

• 1 Mount Isa Mines 302 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive
• 1 Mount Isa Mines 305 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive
• 7 DL class locomotives for Innisfail Tramway operations

Western Australia

Preserved Mount Newman Mining MLW M636 diesel locomotive in April 2012

• 1 MRWA E class locomotive
• 10 WAGR B class locomotives
• 11 Westrail N class diesel locomotives
• Alco 636 M636 diesel locomotives for Hamersley Iron
• 21 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Mount Newman Mining
• 12 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Robe River Mining

Electric locomotives

New South Wales

• 10 85 class electric locomotive
• 50 86 class electric locomotive

Queensland

• 18 3100 class electric locomotive
• 68 3200 class electric locomotive

Diesel multiple units

Westrail ADP/ADQ class

TransAdelaide 2000 class railcar

New South Wales

• 5 1100 class Budd railcars

Queensland

• 24 1800 class railcars
• 2 1900 class railcars
• 40 2000 class railcars

South Australia

• 30 2000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars
• 20 3000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars

Western Australia

• 10 West Australian ADK diesel multiple units
• 8 West Australian Prospector diesel railcars
• 5 West Australian Australind diesel railcars

Tasmania

• 6 Tasmanian Government Railways DP class railcars

India

• Numerous diesel railcars for Indian Railways^[7]

Electric multiple units

New South Wales V set

New South Wales

• 80 Sputnik Sydney suburban carriages
• 80 U set Intercity carriages
• 359 S set Sydney suburban carriages
• 246 V set Intercity carriages
• 11 Skitube Alpine Railway electric carriages

Victoria

Comeng train in Metro livery

• 570 Comeng Melbourne suburban carriages

Carriages

CountryLink RUB carriage at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot in December 2012

Commonwealth Railways

• 24 carbon steel carriages
• 124 stainless steel carriages

Long Island Rail Road

• 10 C1 bilevel cars (design only; built by Tokyu Car Corporation)

New South Wales

• 35 N type carriages
• 67 RUB carriages
• 75 stainless steel carriages
• 47 XPT carriages

Queensland

• 99 steel carriages
• 35 stainless steel carriages
• 112 suburban stainless steel carriages (SX)

Trams and light rail

Z class Melbourne tram 168 at Preston Workshops in August 2007

MTR Light Rail Phase I vehicle (pre-refurbishment)

New South Wales

• 100 R1 class Sydney trams

Victoria

• 230 Z class Melbourne trams
• 70 A class Melbourne trams
• 132 B class Melbourne trams

Hong Kong

• 70 MTR Phase I Light Rail Vehicles 1988

References

1. Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 1: 1921-1955. Rosenberg Publishing. 2006. ISBN 1877058424.
2. Dunn, John (2008). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 2: 1955-1966. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 978-1877058738.
3. Dunn, John (2010). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 3: 1967-1977. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781877058905.
4. Dunn, John (2013). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 4: 1977-1985. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781922013514.
5. Dunn, John (2013). Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering. Vol. 5: 1985–1990. Kenthurst, New South Wales: Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 978-1-922013-52-1.[1]
6. "John Dunn Obituary". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
7. The Indian Railcar Contract Adam, Eric Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, December 1989 pp285-291

External links

Media related to Commonwealth Engineering at Wikimedia Commons