SX carriages

SXV 1662 from set 38 at Ipswich

The SX carriages were a type of passenger carriages constructed by Commonwealth Engineering for the Queensland Railways in 1961–1962.

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never occurred and they were gradually replaced from the 1980s as EMUs and SMUs entered service.^[1] The last was withdrawn on 2 December 1999.^[3]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]

Zig Zig Railway - Auckland set

Seven SX carriages were imported to New Zealand in the early 2000s. A set of six were overhauled for the Auckland Regional Council. These were overhauled by the Hillside Workshops in 2002/2003, further refurbished in 2008/2009 and retired in 2014/15 as the AM class EMUs were introduced. SXA1744 was sold by Auckland Transport in its imported condition to Dunedin Railways and was used for storage. It was later on sold and is now privately owned and located near Bluff as of 2021. The six carriages in MAXX livery were stored in Taumarunui in the central North Island until sold for a dollar each to the Railway Enthusiasts Society. Five of the number consisted of AT MAXX set of SXV1697, SXC1741, SXC1742, SXC1743 and SXV1746. After a detailed inspection, they did not fulfil their needs and were advertised to Australian and New Zealand preservations groups. One was sold to Taumarunui Rail Action Centre Trust.^[8] There was no further interest in the remaining five, so they were advertised on auction site TradeMe and were sold to private owners around New Zealand with bogies in March 2021 and were removed from Taumarunui on 17 June 2021. SXC1743 was relocated to Whanganui, SXC1742 went to Hastings and the remaining three carriages went to a single owner in Taupo.^[9][10][11]

One set (7 cars) has been retained by Queensland Rail's Heritage Division^[12] while others have been preserved including seven at the DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum,^[13] 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 Suburban Loco-Hauled Train Finale" Railway Digest January 2000 page 8
4. May, Andrew S; Gray, Bill (2006). A History of WAGR Passenger Carriages. Midland, WA: Bill Gray. pp. 324–328. ISBN 0646459023.
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. "Stuff.co.nz:27 March 2021". Stuff.co.nz. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
9. "FRONZ Journal:207– January 2021" (PDF). Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand. October–December 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
10. "Sale of Surplus rolling stock". FYI.org.nz Official Information Act request to Auckland Transport. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
11. "Approval to write off the residual depreciation on the SA/SD and SX carriages". FYI.org.nz Official Information Act request to Auckland Transport. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
12. Stainless steel (SX) Carriages Queensland's Great Trains
13. SX Carriages DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum