OVERLAND CARS - SJ284, JTA6, CLUB 1 and PCJ 492

SJ 284 - Dorai - SLEEPER CARRIAGE

SJ 284 is a ten compartment, steel bodied, air-conditioned twinette sleeper carriage which was built in the South Australia Railways Workshop at Islington as joint stock for The Overland running between Melbourne and Adelaide. It entered service in December 1950 and was originally given the name Dorai.

About 1955 the carriage was fitted with Bradford Kendall (BK) bogies and in 1970 it was converted to head-end power.

Sleeper No. 14 at Spencer Street, 1976. Photo by Peter J. Vincent

In June 1972 the carriage was sold to VR, renumbered to No.14 Sleeper and repainted into VR blue livery. It entered service on the overnight Vinelander between Melbourne and Mildura in November 1972. After the split up of VR in 1983 the carriage was subsequently renumber to SJ 284 and repainted into orange V/Line livery.

SJ 284 in 'Vinelander' livery before heritage service in 2011. Photo by John Green.

The Carriage remained on the Vinelander until the service was withdrawn in 1993. Since then it has been in storage until VicTrack allocated custody of the carriage to Seven-0-Seven Operations in early 2011. The carriage has undergone a complete service and repair of corrosion damage at our Newport workshops and over 2021 was repainted into Overland maroon. SJ284 features on our Slow Rail Journey weekends.

JTA6 - Kuldalai - SLEEPER CARRIAGE

'Kuldalai' was built as additional stock for 'The Overland' by the South Australian Railways at Islington Workshops in 1957. As built, the carriage was a twinette sleeping car with accommodation for 20 passengers in 10 berths, with a conductors compartment at the boarding end. The carriage entered service on October 11, 1957.

In 1970, with the addition of power vans to the train, power supply for 'Kuldalai' was converted from axel box generated power to head end power.

With the introduction of computer coding, the car was given the code JTA-6 in line with the other Australian National Stock. The code was arranged by type of vehicle and purpose, J for joint stock between originally the South Australian and Victorian Railways then Australian National and V/Line, T for Twinette sleeper and A to indicate the car as a first series carriage.

In 1995, the carriage was written off and sold to "International Development Services" and subsequently sold in 1998 to a private individual and transferred from Islington to Talbot where it was to be on static display.

The carriage was sold again in November 2002 and relocated to Ballarat East where interior and exterior restorations were carried out. The car was transfered to Seven-O-Seven Operations at Newport in 2005 where it was restored to operational condition.

In 2009, 'Kuldalai' underwent its fist trip since being restored and carried a blue livery which remained until 2018, where the car was returned to its original 'Overland; liverly.

CLUB 1 - LOUNGE CARRIAGE

Club Car No. 1 was built by the South Australian Railways at Islington Workshops as one of three club cars to compliment accomodations on 'The Overland'. The carriage contains a bar, kitchenette, crew room and seating capacity for 43 first class passengers.

Interior of Club 1 looking towards the bar end.

In 1995, ownership of Club 1 was transferred to V/Line, with the carriage being repainted into the V.R heritage livery, matching Parlour Car 'Norman' and Dining Car 'Avoca'. When repainted, Club 1 given the name 'Victoria'.

In 2004, 'Victoria' was repainted into the V/Line Red, White and Blue colour scheme and continued service for special use.

Club Car 'Victoria' was allocated to Seven-O-Seven Operations Inc. in 2017 for use on mainline tours.

After being repainted into its original maroon 'Overland' livery in 2021, Club Car No. 1 often serves as the heart of passenger accomodation on mainline overnight and day tours, with a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages on offer as well as a selection of snacks.

Club 1 after repainting in 2021.

 

PC 294 (PCO 3) - POWER/GUARDS VAN

PCO 3 was built at the Islington Workshops of the South Australian Railways as one of four power/guards vans for 'The Overland' in 1970, with PCO 3 being issued to service on September the 22nd, 1970. The 'A' end of the car was built to contain two 162.5 Kilowatts (217.9 hp) diesel generators, with exhaust mufflers built into the roof. The 'B' end of the car contained a baggage compartment with a 10 ton capacity, dog boxes with external doors as well as a technictians compartment and a guards compartment.

In 1990, due to V/Line 'N-class' locomotives running the service which had their own head end power units, PCO 3 and the other 3 power vans were withdrawn from 'The Overland' and were placed into storage.

In 1995, V/Line took full ownership of PCO 3, where it was renumbered to PCJ 492 and used in service for an array of duties.

More to come...

Revised: 16 January 2023