Victorian Railways Royal Train

State Car 5 in storage at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre

Interior of a sleeping compartment, used on a Royal Train in 1927

In the history of the Victorian Railways there were five special carriages designated for royal train and other special services, designated State Car 1 through to State Car 5.

From 1954, the carriages were painted in the standard royal blue with gold (chrome yellow) trim of the Victorian Railways, created for Spirit of Progress in 1937, with the exception of the 1988 Royal Tour. Operated by its successor V/Line, this trip was operated by two freshly cleaned, partially repainted (below footplate) and polished locomotives in the standard V/Line orange and grey livery, with the carriages painted in a one off 'executive' livery of grey and white, with orange and green trim.[1]

• State Car 1 entered service in 1890 as Enterprise. It was renamed in 1900 and was scrapped in August 1956.[2]
• State Car 2 and State Car 3 both entered service in 1901 and were both rebuilt for other uses in 1919.[3][4]
• State Car 4 was built in 1912 based on the then state of the art wooden E type carriage design. It featured an observation balcony at one end, Governor's and Lady's bedrooms (which could be separated by doors), dining room, kitchen, male and female bathrooms (each with a bath, shower and toilet), and accommodation for ladies-in-waiting and other support staff. A total of nine sleeping berths were provided.[5] This carriage is owned by VicTrack Heritage and is allocated to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.
• State Car 5 was based on the steel air-conditioned S type carriage design in 1951. Royal insignia were painted on each side.[6] The carriage featured a kitchen, lounge/dining area, two main bedrooms with en-suite facilities (a bathroom with a bath, basin, shower and toilet), two sleeping/sitting compartments for attendants, and a third bathroom. In 1954 it was displayed at the Centenary Exhibition.[7] It was repainted into the grey livery in 1988 for the royal tour of the year, and has since been allocated to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre collection.[8]
• Mitta Mitta was converted from BRS 228 for use as a support carriage for State Car 5 on vice-regal trains in 1994, but was never used in the role.[9] It was fitted with sleeping berths, bathroom, kitchen, and a dining and lounge area.
• Norman (former Spirit of Progress parlour/lounge/club car) was also used on royal trains.

For the tour of Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Royal Train ran over a period of six days in early March in two separate divisions. The first conveyed the couple, ladies-in-waiting and other dignitaries, and consisted of a combination of six steel and two wooden carriages, all in blue and gold livery, hauled by state-of-the-art diesel-electric locomotives B60 and B85. The second division consisted of Tait-era red sleeping, dining and ancillary carriages, conveying the media and other support staff behind the first division.

From the official operating circular, supported by photographs, the make-up of the 1954 Royal Train was:

• CE brakevan CE34
• 1927 steel dining car Avoca (which had been used in the 1927 royal train, and had since been fitted with airconditioning).
• Three AS airconditioned first-class compartment carriages, of Spirit of Progress style.
• Spirit of Progress dining car (the Spirit had to use a spare buffet car).
• State Car 5
• State Car 4

The locomotives were crewed by:

• Frank Myers, Victorian Railways Commissioners' driver (for over twenty years)
• Kevin Whelan, locomotive driver: Whelan had formerly been Myers' fireman during the delivery of the B class locomotives. Myers asked Whelan back for the Royal Tour as he could not find another suitable fireman for the role.

On 2 March, a shortened train (single B with four carriages, including state car 4 trailing) conveyed the Duke from Melbourne to Flinders Naval Depot. It was turned via the Crib Point triangle – a rare piece of track infrastructure on Victorian Railways – and returned to Melbourne. The Duke, a former navy officer, presented new colours to one of the units. Returning, he alighted at South Yarra, then by car to Government House. Next day, 3 March, the couple flew to Sale, Gippsland. The train ran empty to Sale to pick up the Queen and the Duke and return them to Melbourne, with a side trip to Yallourn. The following evening, at 5 pm on 4 March, the train took the royal couple to Goorambat, 132 miles from Melbourne on the Yarrawonga line, north of Benalla. The train was stabled there overnight.

The following day, the train returned to Benalla, where the royal couple left the train and travelled to Tatura with a road-motor convoy. The train then ran empty to Seymour, reversed, proceeded along the Goulburn Valley main line and diverged at Toolamba along the Toolamba–Echuca railway line, bound for Tatura. Here, the couple were picked up, and the train continued to Echuca, reversing there and heading south to Bendigo via the main line. After Bendigo, the train continued south to Castlemaine, then west via the cross-country line to Maryborough. The train then ran south to Waubra Junction, short of Ballarat, reversed and ran the short journey down the Waubra branch line to the Ballarat Racecourse Platform at approximately 81 miles (locally known as Dowling’s Forest Racecourse). The train was again stabled overnight.

The following day, the train departed the racecourse and ran into Ballarat. The train then ran to Melbourne via Geelong, pausing at Aircraft station (adjacent to RAAF Laverton) before continuing though Melbourne to Warburton, where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh exited the Royal Train for the last time. The two divisions then returned empty to Spencer Street and stabled.[22]