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VicRail R type carriage
The R type carriages were a series of locomotive-hauled carriages proposed to be built for the Victorian country rail network in the early and mid 1980s.
Early plans indicated a build of at least six four-carriage sets for high speed services on the Albury, Bairnsdale, Mildura and Swan Hill lines.
Alan Reiher, the newly minted Chairman of the Victorian Railways Board, had in mind the Spanish Talgo cars, which featured a very low centre of gravity. In April 1982, Les Rolls, a former chief mechanical engineer of the Victorian Railways, and John Hearsch, the then-current Group Manager for Country Passenger Services, travelled overseas to investigate trends and developments in high speed passenger rail services. The international tour looked at the Talgo vehicles, as well as the British Rail Mark 3 coaches and the French SNCF Corail cars, which all had features of interest. The Spanish and French cars were both significantly outside the Victorian loading gauge, and they could not easily be reduced in size. The British coaches were very close to local requirements, requiring relatively simple changes to the coupler heights, replacement of the outward-opening doors and a better air conditioning system to suit Australian climate conditions. However, British Rail advised that they could not begin construction of the Victorian cars for a few years due to a backlog of existing orders.
Due to the projected delay, in early 1983 Comeng's plant in Dandenong was awarded a contract from VicRail to develop concepts for the proposed country carriages.
Reiher's preference for a low centre of gravity inspired the use of a lower carriage profile overall. To allow for this, the air conditioning units were to be mounted under the floor, with cooled air pumped up through body side pillars and entering the carriage saloon through vents above the carriage racks. To ensure the minimum possible weight the cars were to be constructed with low-grade 3CR12 stainless steel, which used chromium in place of nickel and molybdenum, and is created with very fine particles making for better welding properties. Comeng had no experience with 3CR12, so experiments were undertaken to develop acceptable methods of spot and arc welding, as well as finding a suitable painting method. The steel panels were going to be rolled by Lysaghts. Also to save weight, the cars were to use head end power in lieu of fitting underfloor diesel alternator sets or belt-driven generators, as had been applied to earlier vehicles.
Early artwork for the cars reflected the low-slung body, mostly unpainted stainless steel with orange bands on the roof and below platform level, and doors in all four corners. Later artwork by Comeng's artist Phil Belbin, essentially reflected a repainted XPT carriage - with a full height body, a single vestibule with access doors at one end of each carriage, and ten windows per side.
A full-size mockup of a section of the carriage design was constructed at Newport Workshops, to show the concept to VicRail staff, unions and politicians; along with a 1:20 scale model measuring 1.2m over ends.
Comeng suggested CT22 bogies, which were under trial in preparation for the New South Wales XPT train then under development. VicRail had planned to use Socimi bogies imported from Italy. Eventually, a set of bogies were built under license by Vickers-Ruwolt Ltd.
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VicRail R type carriage AI simulator
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VicRail R type carriage
The R type carriages were a series of locomotive-hauled carriages proposed to be built for the Victorian country rail network in the early and mid 1980s.
Early plans indicated a build of at least six four-carriage sets for high speed services on the Albury, Bairnsdale, Mildura and Swan Hill lines.
Alan Reiher, the newly minted Chairman of the Victorian Railways Board, had in mind the Spanish Talgo cars, which featured a very low centre of gravity. In April 1982, Les Rolls, a former chief mechanical engineer of the Victorian Railways, and John Hearsch, the then-current Group Manager for Country Passenger Services, travelled overseas to investigate trends and developments in high speed passenger rail services. The international tour looked at the Talgo vehicles, as well as the British Rail Mark 3 coaches and the French SNCF Corail cars, which all had features of interest. The Spanish and French cars were both significantly outside the Victorian loading gauge, and they could not easily be reduced in size. The British coaches were very close to local requirements, requiring relatively simple changes to the coupler heights, replacement of the outward-opening doors and a better air conditioning system to suit Australian climate conditions. However, British Rail advised that they could not begin construction of the Victorian cars for a few years due to a backlog of existing orders.
Due to the projected delay, in early 1983 Comeng's plant in Dandenong was awarded a contract from VicRail to develop concepts for the proposed country carriages.
Reiher's preference for a low centre of gravity inspired the use of a lower carriage profile overall. To allow for this, the air conditioning units were to be mounted under the floor, with cooled air pumped up through body side pillars and entering the carriage saloon through vents above the carriage racks. To ensure the minimum possible weight the cars were to be constructed with low-grade 3CR12 stainless steel, which used chromium in place of nickel and molybdenum, and is created with very fine particles making for better welding properties. Comeng had no experience with 3CR12, so experiments were undertaken to develop acceptable methods of spot and arc welding, as well as finding a suitable painting method. The steel panels were going to be rolled by Lysaghts. Also to save weight, the cars were to use head end power in lieu of fitting underfloor diesel alternator sets or belt-driven generators, as had been applied to earlier vehicles.
Early artwork for the cars reflected the low-slung body, mostly unpainted stainless steel with orange bands on the roof and below platform level, and doors in all four corners. Later artwork by Comeng's artist Phil Belbin, essentially reflected a repainted XPT carriage - with a full height body, a single vestibule with access doors at one end of each carriage, and ten windows per side.
A full-size mockup of a section of the carriage design was constructed at Newport Workshops, to show the concept to VicRail staff, unions and politicians; along with a 1:20 scale model measuring 1.2m over ends.
Comeng suggested CT22 bogies, which were under trial in preparation for the New South Wales XPT train then under development. VicRail had planned to use Socimi bogies imported from Italy. Eventually, a set of bogies were built under license by Vickers-Ruwolt Ltd.