South Australian Railways East-West Stock
This article describes the nine airconditioned sitting cars and fourteen brake vans that were built by the South Australian Railways at Islington Workshops between 1964 and 1967.
It was unavailable at the time owing to government financial policy, so a similar material was obtained from England, called Plymax.
[3] Externally the vehicle was left unpainted on the corrugated sections and with black undergear, but all other surfaces were a deep royal blue.
The tables were fitted with an aluminium strip around the edges, and the floor was a black and white chequered linoleum surface.
The car's riding qualitiies were improved in 1953 when the first pair of Commonwealth bogies made by Bradford Kendall – a design that was eventually to become widespread on Australian railways – was fitted in a test program.
[3] During the latter half of the Joint Stock series' construction, the South Australian Railways chose to build a handful of carriages to provide upgraded accommodation on the East-West Express from Adelaide to Port Pirie.
Over the period 1964 to 1967 nine carriages and fourteen guard's vans were constructed at Islington Railway Workshops, using similar methods to those applied in the building of the 1947 prototype cafeteria car and the "Overland" Joint Stock fleet introduced from 1949.
The intention was to run the cars as two four-car sets with one composite vehicle on standby, providing capacity for 278 passengers.
The vestibule was fitted on both sides with two-part "stable" doors allowing train staff to lean out of the carriages if necessary.
About 1975, the entire fleet of sitting cars was altered to allow a future conversion to standard gauge, which occurred from 1982 when the line from Port Pirie to Adelaide was converted.
The centre compartment was designed with a partially removable floor to allow for fish to be stored under the car body and provide air-cooling while the train was in motion.
They were held until January 1970, when they entered service as standard gauge vans SCD 1, 2 and 3 for local traffic between Port Pirie and Broken Hill.
From 1982 to about 1988 four vans – CD1, 2, 3 and 7 – were leased to the Victorian Railways for use on country services in their state while awaiting conversion of AZ carriages to ACZ format.
[10] From the mid 1980s the vans were needed less as fewer and longer trains were being operated and the railways were gradually leaving the small parcels business.
Vans 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were removed from normal service, refurbished and repainted with blue roofs and ends, and yellow and red stripes on the sides, and converted into a fixed consist called the Jubilee Trade Train.
