Former Powerline AS and BS carriage, extensively modified.
Rollingstock
S passenger carriages
The Victorian Railways built all steel construction first and second class passenger carriages of an all new design in 1937 for the 'Spirit of Progress'. These carriages were built from Cor-Ten steel and featured a riveted construction, were all air-conditioned and permanently set in a train set for the Spirit.
Classification took place in 1939-40, and the cars became the S cars.
Progressively, as demand dictated it, more passenger carriages were built until a new design succeeded them in the 1960s.
The cars have been used on standard gauge as well as broad gauge, with the 'Spirit of Progress' converted to SG running from 1962 onwards with a direct link between Melbourne and Sydney. This saw the cars undergo reclassification for the purpose of identifying their home railway state.
Undercarriage showing off some of the modifications.
Even today, V/Line continues to use S cars, with a train set of S cars made up from post-1945 built vehicles. As such, the S cars have seen a wide variety of liveries, from the VR blue and gold, red and silver, through the Tea-Cup and tangerine V/Line days as well as the V/Line Passenger Corporation livery.
They have ridden on a special kind of bogie built by the VR for the 'Spirit of Progress', with later varieties running on Commonwealth bogies.
Powerline once produced a very basic model of the S cars. However moulding detail was simplistic, and some parts were wrong, such as the corridor connections. An article appearing in issues 238 and 239 of the Australian Model Railway Magazine by Graeme Brown detail how to superdetail these models
to a suitable standard. The carriages presented here are representative of those articles, and feature a decal set specifically designed and produced for the 'Spirit of Progress' as it was running in its later days of broad gauge service.
Changes include new corridor connections, the addition of styrene transoms and bolsters, removal and replacement of tanks, addition of brake equipment, amongst other changes.
Finally, the cars are repainted in SEM blue and have decals applied for their respective classes.
The CS is a conversion of a Hanovale Models casting (VHN) and the DS is a further modified VHN casting from the same company.
The Victorian Hobby Centre is in the process of producing a Parlor Car, although this has been the case for a couple of years now.
Victorian Railways CS guard's van by Hanovale Model Castings.
DS converted from the Hanovale kit.
