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The Queensland Railways ordered two different types of steel bodied air-conditioned carriage stock, both built by Commonwealth Engineering at their Rocklea plant. Over the years these carriages have been used on many different long distance Queensland Rail services.

All Queensland Rail Travel (formerly "Traveltrain") services are now operated only with L Series carriages.

M Series Carriage Stock

M series
MCC 1520, one of the M series carriages built
In service1953–2014
ManufacturerCommonwealth Engineering
Built atRocklea
Constructed1953–1955
Number built99
OperatorsQueensland Rail
Specifications
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)

In January 1950, Queensland Railways awarded a contract for 99 steel bodied carriages to Commonwealth Engineering, Rocklea. These were purchased to operate the Lander series of trains, The Inlander, The Midlander, The Sunlander and The Westlander entering service between 1953 and 1955.[1]

The original order of 99 cars was for:[1]


In 2007 as well as 2010, Queensland Rail decided that the 80 remaining M-series carriages would have to be removed from service by December 2013.[2] With the replacement of The Sunlander by the Spirit of Queensland, the M-series carriages were retired in December 2014.[3]

Preservation and Re-Use

The known ownership/location of the remaining M series lander cars is as follows:

Allocated to Ipswich Workshops Rail Museum:

Allocated to DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum:[4][5]

Allocated to Queensland Pioneer Steam Railway at Swanbank:

Four of these cars have undergone work to return them to traffic as the Queensland Pioneer Steam Railway Dinner Train, which runs over 7 km of scenic railway track at Ipswich, and sport the original blue and white livery they first wore in 1953.


The Q Train, based at The Bellarine Railway, have obtained carriages for the purpose of their restaurant train.


Gayndah Heritage Railway

Other Carriages Preserved

L Series Carriage Stock

L series
In service1981–present
ManufacturerCommonwealth Engineering
Built atRocklea
Constructed1981–1985
Number built30
OperatorsQueensland Rail
Specifications
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)

Between October 1981 and October 1985, Comeng built a further 30 carriages. These were built out of stainless steel.[7]

The original order was for 5 x LBL class second class sitting cars (48 seats).

Subsequent orders added an additional:

In 2007 as well as 2010, Queensland Rail projected that the 30 remaining L series carriages could operate for a further 15 years, pending refurbishment.[2] In July 2014, tenders were called to reconfigure 11 L series carriages.[8] With The Sunlander withdrawn, this allowed The Inlander, Spirit of the Outback and The Westlander to be converted to L series stock.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Dunn, John (2006). Comeng A History of Commonwealth Engineering 1921-1955. Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 182–198. ISBN 1877058424.
  2. ^ a b Queensland Audit Office. "Traveltrain renewal: Sunlander 14. Report 8: 2014-15" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  3. ^ Queensland Rail (8 September 2014). "New levels of comfort aboard The Spirit of the Outback". Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  4. ^ "End of an era" Railway Digest May 2014 pages 34/35
  5. ^ "Motive Power News" Motive Power issue 100 July 2015 page 23
  6. ^ "Train Carriage Yumantra Fitout » Venn Constructions Pty Ltd - Brisbane Commercial Builders". vennconstructions.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  7. ^ Dunn, John (2013). Comeng A History of Commonwealth Engineering 1985-2012. Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 141–147. ISBN 9781922013521.
  8. ^ L-Series interior carriage conversion Archived October 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Queensland Government Procurement
  9. ^ "Tenders called for Queensland Rail L series car conversions" Railway Digest September 2014 page 16
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