Victorian Railways bogie guard's vans

The first development in passenger guard's vans, the D^D class, totalling 44, was built between 1888 and 1893. They were 40 feet (12.19 m) long, and sat on two bogies. They featured a centred cupola, made possible due to the lack of passenger compartments; and the design was effectively two Z vans back-to-back, with a single cupola and fitted with bogies. Around 1890 some of the vans were fitted with end vestibules, and in 1893 the class was fitted with toilets for the guard.

In the 1910 recoding the D^D vans became the C vans. Not much information is available on the vans between 1910 and 1950, so it is assumed that they were generally unaltered. Around this time the class absorbed some of the older Intercolonial Express vans, which had been built to a South Australian Railways design but given to the Victorian Railways when that fleet was replaced with newer vehicles of the E type carriage group. These vans became 45C and 46C, were slightly shorter and had the guard compartment fitted at one end instead of centrally.

In 1908 vans 17 and 24 were modified for mail sorting use, and recoded D^DMS. Circulars (internal rail notices) from the era noted that the two vans were used on the Bendigo service, one van on the 0645 Bendigo and the 1515 Melbourne trains, and the other van for the 1215 Bendigo and the 1850 Melbourne services. In the 1910 recoding the vans became the CDS class, still retaining numbers 1 and 2. In 1922 it was decided that the vans were no longer needed in mail traffic, so they were converted back to what was by then the C vans. They became C47 and C48 respectively, because the 1910 recoding had used their old numbers - the class had been renumbered to fill the gaps.

However, the renumbering had allowed for van C43 to be numbered as such. This van was similar to others in the class but it has a very different history. More information can be found here.

By the mid-1950s the vehicles were worn out and in need of replacement, after up to 70 years of hard service. Instead of creating a whole new class, under frames and bodies were repaired or replaced as required, retaining the same numbers. When this happened the vestibule connections on applicable vans were eliminated and boarded over.

Some of these vans also possessed a 'ducket', which was a small box with windows on the side of the van, to allow the guard to look down the side of the train. 'Duckets' were not always applied to both sides or both ends of the train - their application seems rather random.

Due to a lack of inter-carriage diaphragms and the ancient construction giving draughty conditions for staff, the vans were banned from service as of midnight 7 June 1982.[1]

In 1960, because of the experiences encountered during rebuilding of the C vans, a new set of 15 C vans was built, numbered one to fifteen. These vans were intended for freight service. The remaining old C vans in that number range were renumbered to make room, but stayed as C vans.

The new C vans differed in that they were fitted with periscopes rather than cupolas, and that they were constructed from steel instead of wood.

By 1961 the class had been re-lettered to CA.

In the 1979 renumbering, the class was altered to become the VVAP's. However they did not last long, as the class was not re-lettered until 1983-1986 and by this time guard's vans were being eliminated on freight trains.

The class started as the DVE's of 1906, numbers 1 to 16. In 1910 they became the CE's, and construction continued up to 32CE in 1923. In 1924 CE 33-37 were built with elliptical roofs instead of clerestory.

Two guard's/luggage vans were constructed for The Overland in 1970.

From 1956 to 1958, 40 guard's vans of the CP design were constructed by A.E. Goodwin (NSW), and painted in a Passenger Red livery. They were intended to run on passenger trains and some fast goods trains, and had a freight capacity of 10 tons. The vans were of all-steel construction and welded to an underframe, which rested on two 4-wheeled bogies fitted with roller bearings. Aesthetically the vans were very similar to the earlier South Australian Railways' 8300 series vans, and the later Western Australian Government Railways' WBA and WBC vans.[10][11][12] The new vehicles had many amenities, including a stainless steel wash basin, toilet, mirror and stove. The walls and ceilings were lined with wool and the interior lining was of painted plywood, while the floor was insulated with a rubber layer. All windows were of armour-plate safety glass. Earlier vans had three windows per sliding door, while later vans had one per sliding door. All vans were fitted with axle-mounted generators for electric lighting.[13]

To eliminate the ZJF vans from service between Melbourne and Adelaide, nine of the 40 vans were recoded to JCP in the late 1960s, the 'J' representing "Joint Stock". They were not needed from the mid-1980s and so were then re-lettered back to CP with their old numbers.

Over time some members of the class were repainted into Wagon Red, representing their move from passenger to freight service.

Between 1983 and 1986 the entire class was recoded to VVCP. However, in 1987 vans VVCP 34, 16, 25 and 6 were reclassed to CP 291-294 respectively and painted into the then-current V/Line orange livery. The first three had corridor connections added at both ends, though CP294 only had the connection installed at one end. These connections were based on the design used for the N sets. The vans had 10 tonnes luggage capacity, and were rated for operation at up to 115 km/h. All vans had their periscopes removed.

All four were painted in a matching scheme except that CP294's grey roof extended down to just above the doors.

In 1898, vans 1 and 2 of the DV class were built, and these were unique in featuring duckets and a clean roofline rather than a raised guard's section at each end. In 1906 the class was expanded to 7, and in the 1910 recoding the class became 1CV to 7CV.

CW 1-15 were built in 1913-14 with clerestory roofs. In 1935 vans 16-20 were built with elliptical roofs.

When the standard gauge was completed from Sydney to Melbourne, three Joint Stock guards vans were provided for the Southern Aurora service. The vans were numbered MHN 2364 to 2366, paid for by both Victoria and New South Wales, and were built by Commonwealth Engineering in NSW. Between 1981 and 1984 MHN2366 was temporarily renumbered to 2866. In 1991 it was re-lettered to AHO. By this time all three vans were running in primarily NSW service.

As trains became faster in the early 1960s it was realised that new freight vans were necessary, in order to prevent the restrictions imposed by fixed-wheel vans on the end of a long bogie train. To this end, ZF1 to ZF45 were constructed.

In 1962 it was agreed by the Victorian Railways and the South Australian Railways to allow through-running of freight trains, and so seven members of the ZJF class were constructed. They had the same design as the ZF vans.

In 1963/64 the vans were given upgraded bogies and re-lettered to ZJP, indicating their suitability for passenger trains. In 1965 the vans were merged with the ZLP class of vans, and ZJP's 1 to 7 became ZLP 74, 80, 79, 77, 78, 75 and 76 respectively. They were replaced in Joint Stock service by the JCP freight vans.

Between 1963 and 1967 the vans received passenger-quality bogies and were reclassed to ZLP, but the original numbers were retained. They were now capable of 70 mph working. Around the same time, another batch was constructed new. This consisted of ZLP's 46-73, none of which were ever lettered as ZF's.

The vans were used in both passenger and freight work within Victoria. By this point they had been joined by the ex-joint stock ZJF vans, to hold the number group of 1-80.

In 1968 ZLP32 was fitted with a generator to supply electricity to the Showmobile Train, which was an assortment of V-series passenger cars gutted and fitted with billboards.

When four-letter coding was introduced, the ZLP's became the VVBP's. It was at about this time that van scrappings had commenced, and so not all of the ZLP's made the coding jump. In 1987 three VVBP vans were recoded to MD and allocated to maintenance trains. These vans had the guard-related functions removed, including lights, generator, stove, brake pipe tap and half the shunters' steps. These were replaced by crew benches and an external ratchet handbrake at the No.2 end.[19]

As the Z fixed wheel vans were long overdue for retirement by the early 1970s, the railways decided to build a batch of ZF vans, numbered 1-50. These are not to be confused with the 1960s ZF vans, which had since been recoded ZLP.

The vans were intended for freight use only, hence the "F" but no "P" in the code.

Throughout the 1970s the vans underwent various changes. Early in the decade they gained vents in the guard's compartment at floor level, and later some vans were modified to include crew compartments for travelling between depots. These wagons are recognisable by the extra, small sliding door at the crew end.

In 1980 an entirely new design of guard's vans entered service. ZMF1 entered service in December, and when it did it caused mixed reactions.

The "van" was actually a short bogie flat wagon, fitted centrally with a plastic cabin and verandah over the handbrakes. The other end held the gas and electrical fittings.

This design was used because of the plans, then shrouded in mystery, to eliminate guards from freight trains. When this eventuated it would be possible to remove the guard fittings and use the flat wagon in freight consists for containers.

Peter J. Vincent's site says, [quote]From the design, most operational staff could readily conjure up images of guards seated in the verandah section with sizzling barbecue, amply supported by a full icebox of 'tinnies' and waving cheerily to passers by.[/quote]

ZMF's 2 to 10 entered service in 1982, only to be recoded to VVEY in 1983. The vans were among the first casualties of the program to scrap guard's vans, but only two under frames were reused. These became the QD wagons no.3 and 4, and were used for transporting cranes that did not have railway wheels. The QD's were also later used on sleeper trains, with the sleepers hydraulically transported from the QD to the appropriate machinery.

Early steam locomotive hauled passenger trains often had a van compartment replacing one of the passenger compartments in one of the carriages; vans so-fitted included the ABD, AD and BD classes. The late 1880s onwards saw some bogie carriages fitted out with a similar style of guard's accommodation, in the AD^AD, ABD^ABD and BD^BD of 1887, 1891 and 1900 respectively. The bogie cars were reclassed AC, ABC and BC in 1910, and the fixed-wheel vehicles became XYZ, XZ and YZ respectively (while the pure guard's vans, classed D, became the ubiquitous Z vans).

Narrow gauge trains often ran with ^NBD^BD vans, the first built in 1899. These were recoded to a much simpler NBC in 1910.

From 1910 over a hundred AC^P carriages were built, intended for later conversion to electric traction. The "P" suffix to the code indicated the central corridor running the length of the eight passenger compartments, though this did not connect with the guard's area at one end. The suburban electric multiple unit fleet was provided with guard's accommodation from the introduction of the Swing Door and Tait trains in 1919, both having a two-man crew with a motorman (driver) and guard.[49] Communication bells between driver and guard were not provided until the Harris trains of 1956, eliminating the use of green flags to indicated 'right of way' for departure from stations.[50] The later Harris trains were also the first to introduce guard controlled power operated doors to Victorian passenger trains, this being continued on the Hitachi trains of 1972.[51]

From around the late 1930s, the wooden BCE and BCPL cars were often used as guard vans. By the 1980s the new build N type carriage sets included an ACN carriage with guard's accommodation, as did the rebuilt H and Z sets' BCH and ACZ/BCZ cars.

BCZ257 at Southern Cross on Platform 4

The 1980s saw a corporatisation and modernisation of the Victorian Railways, which was rebranded as VicRail, and then as V/Line. Working practices were altered, with freight trains having their guard's vans and guards abolished from 1985.[52]

Under the New Deal for passenger services guards were relocated from separate vans into compartments inside the new N, Z and H type carriage sets themselves.[53] The guards themselves were removed from passenger trains in 1989, and replaced by conductors.[52]

Driver only suburban trains commenced running in 1993, with the last suburban train crewed by a guard running in November 1995.[52] The Siemens Nexas and X'Trapolis 100 trains delivered since this time have no provision for guards.

• Peter J. Vincent: C Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: C/CA/VVAP Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: CO Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: CP Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: DD Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: DDMS Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: DMS (ZDS) Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: E Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: JCP Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: MHN Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: ZF (ZLP) Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: ZLP Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: New ZF Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: VVDY Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: VZDY Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: ZMF Vans
• Peter J. Vincent: ZJF Vans