Victoria Railways motor car transport

Infobox Train
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name = Motor car transport


imagesize =
caption =
interior

interiorcaption =
Manufacturer = Victorian Railways
Factory = Newport Workshops
Bendigo Workshops
Family =
Built = From 1958
Refurbishment =
Replaced =
Formation =
Designation =
Operator =
Depots =
LinesServed = Melbourne to Mildura, Adelaide and Sydney
Various freight routes
yearconstruction = From 1958
yearservice =
yearscrapped =
numberconstruction =
numberbuilt = 22 (AA), 58 (ALF)
numberservice =
numberscrapped = 2
CarBody =
CarLength = convert|58|ft|9|in|m (short)
convert|75|ft|10|in|m (long)
CarWidth = convert|9|ft|8|in|m
CarHeight = convert|14|ft|0|in|m (loaded)
floorheight =
platformheight =
entrylevelorstep =
art-sections =
doors =
MaxSpeed = 60mph (except AA class)
Weight =
Capacity =
Auxiliaries =
Power-supply =
Gauge = Broad and standard
Brakes =

The Victorian Railways and successors used a variety of railway wagons for the transport motor cars.

History

A single wagon was built in 1958, but it was not until 1960 that any more emerged. The early usage of the wagons was for carrying finished motor cars from Melbourne to Sydney and Adelaide. [cite web
url=http://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/ax.html
title=AX automobile transport
author=Mark Bau
accessdate=2008-09-11] The Ford Motor Company plant at Broadmeadows was one major source of the traffic, with Holden being the other between Melbourne and Adelaide. [cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c430m.htm
title=MLX - Motor Car Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] This traffic ended by the 1990s and the wagons were put into storage.cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c090m.htm
title=VMBX / VMBY - Motor Car Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11]

The other traffic was the motorail service provided to passengers on long distance trains, allowing them to being their car along with them. From the 1970s wagons were assigned to the "Vinelander" service from Melbourne to Mildura, with additional wagons used on the "Southern Aurora" between Melbourne and Adelaide, [cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c427m.htm
title=MBK / MBY - Motorail Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] and "The Overland" between Melbourne and Adelaide.cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c061m.htm
title=ALF / ALP - Motorail service
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] The latter train is the only one still running today, but has not had a motorail facility available due to the redevelopment of Southern Cross Station. [cite web
url=http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/the-overland/taking-your-car.php
title=The Overland Motorail
publisher=www.gsr.com.au
accessdate=2008-09-11]

Variants

'Short' wagons

When the need arose for a form of motor car body transportation between Melbourne and Adelaide in 1958, a new vehicle class was created. A single wagon was built using the underframe of a scrapped Swing Door suburban train, with skeletal truss sides and appropriate tie downs. In 1960 the wagon was modified to permit roll-on roll-off loading and unloading, and by 1961 there were 22 wagons of this type,cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c370m.htm
title=AA / AF - Motor Car Body Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] each capable of holding eight vehicles. These wagons, which were convert|58|ft|9|in|m in length, were built at Newport Workshops and received the code 'AA'.cite book | author = Norm Bray and Peter J Vincent | title = Bogie Freight Wagons of Victoria | publisher = Brief History Books | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-9775056-0-X | page = pages 122 - 131] Closed in sides were later added to the wagons. Subsequent bogie modifications saw these wagons recoded to 'AF' and then to 'AX'. With the introduction of Railways of Australia four letter codes in 1979 the wagons were recoded to 'VMAX', and then received a succession of 'VMxx' series codes.

'Long' wagons

The convert|75|ft|10|in|m long motorail wagons were built at either the Newport Workshops or Bendigo Workshops. Again with skeletal truss sides, only some were closed in like the shorter wagons. Initial codes were 'ALF' and 'ALX' with the similar 'MLX' added and reclassed later. With the introduction of four letter codes in 1979 they became 'VMBX' and then 'VMBY'.cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c315m.htm
title=ALF / ALX - Bogie Car Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] A number of these wagons were sold to the National Rail Corporation in 1994.

Car Parts Transport

Aside from the above bogie wagons, there were also the KF and KW four wheel wagons, and the larger BFW/VBCW wagons used for transporting car parts.

Liveries

The majority of the wagons received the standard Victorian Railways freight livery of wagon red. However, those used in motorail service later received a dark blue with white lettering scheme, then a tangerine scheme with the introduction of VicRail and V/Line.cite web
url=http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c063m.htm
title=AX / VMAX - Motor Car Transport
author=Peter J Vincent
accessdate=2008-09-11] Also, at one point the BFW/VBCW class were labelled with a large Ford logo.

References

Further reading

* [http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/type_frt.htm Peter J. Vincent: Victorian Railways - Freight]
* [http://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/alf.html Mark Bau: ALF series]
* [http://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/ax.html Mark Bau: AX series]
* [http://www.victorianrailways.net/freight/freight%20pages/alx.html Mark Bau: ALX series]