In 1987, these were sold to Australian Vintage Travel and converted to standard gauge for use on the Southern Cross Express luxury train in New South Wales.

[2] After this ceased, the carriages were sold to Northern Rivers Railroad for use on its Ritz Rail tourist train on the Murwillumbah line.

[5][6] A few remained in service when Australian National's passenger operations were sold to Great Southern Rail in November 1997.

[1][7] Some sources list the twenty-three 800, 850 and 860 class carriages as part of this fleet,[8] but those are covered on the suburban trailers page.

After addressing the serious deficiencies in locomotives and freight rolling stock, Webb turned his attention to the quality of passenger accommodation on longer runs around the state.

To address these failings, a new fleet of steel passenger carriages were constructed at Islington Railway Workshops, with the first entering service in 1936.

Each compartment was accessed by twin wooden sliding doors, with etched glass panels fitted.

These cars had a central aisle with seats either side and toilets in the centre (dividing the smoking and non-smoking sections).

[8] The cars were eventually repainted to maroon and silver in the late 1960s, to match the scheme of the newer air conditioned vehicles in use on the Overland and other trains.

As the fleet grew they replaced many of the older vehicles, which were progressively scrapped or held for occasional use, like the Centenary Train.

In December 1968, four compartment carriages were converted to standard gauge, for use on the first runs between Peterborough and Broken Hill.

DC783 ex No.783 was retained by the State for special occasions; with 705 scrapped, that left 34 broad gauge carriages to be transferred.

The BF code was defined as "non-air conditioned economy class sitting car with cooking facilities".

[16] The cars were repainted into red with a tan roof, black undergear and silver stripes to match the scheme of the short-haul Commonwealth Railways passenger stock.

When V/Line introduced its "New Deal for Country Passengers" in 1981, the intention was to provide an all-steel, all-air-conditioned fleet of carriages, and retire the old timber-bodied cars.

After a short period they were refurbished and repainted into a blue, yellow and white scheme for a new tourist train called The Explorer, but the project was soon abandoned and the cars were returned to indefinite storage.

The three standard gauge vehicles remaining, BF343 (ex 780), BE346 (ex 750) and BE351 (ex 752), were railed from Port Pirie to Murwillumbah in 1991, following a sale from Australian National to the Northern Rivers Railroad.

In 1981, SteamAge Australia purchased fourteen of the carriages, and these were railed from Adelaide to Melbourne departing 3 December 1981 as a single consist.

The inaugural run of the Melbourne Limited fleet, with some of the newly refurbished carriages, was on Saturday 15 June 1986 to Swan Hill.

When SteamAge collapsed in 1987, the fleet was sold to Australian Vintage Travel and converted to standard gauge, for a service called The Southern Cross Express.

On 29 December 1989 the eight cars already on standard gauge were transferred to Goulburn roundhouse as a temporary staging point before later being shifted further north.

In May 2004, the Ritz Rail train was transferred from Murwillumbah to Lithgow for long-term storage, and in 2010 the fleet was shifted to Parkes for a stock auction.

These were transferred to Ballarat Workshops for restoration, and within a few years three of them had re-entered service as excursion class vehicles.

Weeroona, previously car 501, was sold in 1989 and re-entered service in 1993 with an end deck, kitchen and dining facilities, and only three compartments retained.

By 1994 the vehicle had been repainted into blue with gold stripes and a white roof, with the new identity Terror Australis.

AK500, BK600 (no longer BKL) and BK702 were repainted into blue with gold; BK703 was retained in The Explorer livery, and the other two are not listed on the Steamrail website.

There were stored for a time at Seymour in the SRHC compound, before being used on their first tour at the start of 2016, connecting with a broad gauge train at Ararat.

[34] On arrival at Dimboola, the locomotive was used to organise the carriages, then proceed with the first batch to McIntyre, where BK702 was removed by N469 and transferred to South Dynon, pending gauge conversion and a return to Newport Workshops.

The remaining carriages continued to Albury, delivering CP24-AK502-DCK601-BK604-BK603-AK500 to the yard; they were then collected by engine 42107 and railed to Goulburn for future use on The Picnic Train.

[35] Engine 701 then returned from Albury to Dimboola, conveying retired V/Line carriage set SN8, cars BN7-BN10-BRN34-ACN24[36] previously shunted from Ettamogah, and then added PCK713 and CP30 for the trip back to Tailem Bend.