Victorian Railways box vans

Officially the class ranged from 1 through 966, but during the early years the Victorian Railways would regularly scrap a wagon and build a new one with the same number.

In about 1915, a handful of wagons were fitted with platforms on the roofs, and used to form an overhead wiring train for contractors working on the Melbourne electrification project.

However, by the mid 1950s this method had become unduly expensive, as tarpaulins were prone to regular damage from weather and improper staff handling practices, as well as simply wearing out.

This van was slightly different from later releases, having flat sheet ends instead of the later pressed steel ridges, which were added for strength.

However extra components were still available at the time of the final cutback, so the class eventually reached 380 members; the last delivered in 1961.

Webb's transformation of the South Australian Railways, with the introduction of new locomotives and rolling stock and general upgrades across the board.

The VR took advantage of the opportunity to save on costs through economies of scale, and made a point of purchasing wagons identical to the SAR types.

From late 1957, the last of the then-remaining TT insulated bogie vans were relettered to either BB for general use, or HH for breakdown train use.

In 1958, designs were finalised for a new fleet of boxvans with pressed steel sides, resembling an extended version of the 1957 four-wheel B van type.

BP98 spent some time in 1961-1963 on the standard gauge, painted in blue with gold stripes and fitted with a generator for head-end power provision.

This was largely in response to the perception that gauge-convertible wagons were being borrowed for extensive periods by the New South Wales railways, and only being returned when due for maintenance.

The rest of the D fleet, and DH403 and 404, either passed to V/Line Passenger or was sold to West Coast Railway or one of the plethora of preservation groups operating at the time.

When the Comeng and Hitachi fleet became the exclusive vehicles for the electrified network (following withdrawal of the Harris and electric locomotives), there was no longer a need to apply grease - the newer pantographs included a graphite contact strip which auto-lubricated the overhead.

The main difference between the West Coast fleet and others, aside from livery, was a large flat plate fitted over the ends between the two vertical beams.

In lieu of the orange with white, green and grey, rollingstock was painted in all-over red with a black underframe and blue roof.

Sometime after April 2000,[27] vans DN403 and DN404 were transferred to Newport Workshops and stabled in the far-south-east corner, adjacent to North Williamstown station.

In 2015, van 339 was refurbished at Southern Shorthaul Railroad's Bendigo workshops, and it re-entered service in August that year.

The Australian Railway Historical Society claimed D340, and this van was stored at the Newport paint shop with markings indicating its future.

As of 2009, it was marked with large white crosses indicating that it was due to be scrapped in the Rotten Road purge in that year, undertaken to make way for additional Metro Trains Melbourne sidings.

The new vans were classed BB and numbered 23 to 118, directly following on from the ex-TT converts and BF22, the last vehicle in the Medium series.

Between 1963 and 1965, the fleet was altered again with grade control and other equipment added to make them gauge-convertible, for use on the new standard gauge line to Sydney.

24 wagons, numbers 121 to 144, were reclassed back to BLF and used exclusively for palletised cement traffic from Fyansford to Melbourne and some country depots.

In 1963, it was decided to take a leaf from the book of the engineers from the 1930s, when a number of M cattle wagons were converted to MU-type louvre vans.

Trains would run from Geelong to Newport then via Brooklyn to Sunshine, up to Broadmeadows via the Albion-Jacana freight line, and then shunt and reverse at what was then Somerton, now renamed Roxburgh Park station.

Eventually 40 members of the class were delivered; the train changed from 30-odd four-wheeled wagons to only ten boxvans, although the overall length was about the same.

The sides were removed and two internal bulkheads were added, with the now three compartments made accessible with three pairs of external bi-folding doors.

Starting from 1855, a fleet of four-wheeled vans were designed for the transportation of explosive powders and compounds, as these were needed for construction and mining among other activities.

The Victorian Railways classed the five as PV 1 to 5,[33] and these were the only vehicles in the VR fleet available for explosives transportation until 1872-73 at which point more wagons were constructed by Rawlings[34] in 1873.

These were the last vans to be built without Westinghouse brakes, and the entire fleet was modified in 1910-1912 to match the new safety standards, along with other modifications.

From the 1960s onwards, this was amended with varying sizes of VR symbol on each side depending on the timeframe, generall larger logos earlier on.