The FP paybuses were a series of thirteen small 4 wheel

railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...

es built for the

Department of Railways New South Wales The Department of Railways New South Wales was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia between 1932 and 1972. Management The Department of Railways was under the control of ...

between 1937 and 1970. The rail buses were intended for use on branch lines whose low passenger numbers did not warrant the use of a larger railmotor.

FP1

FP1 was designed by the Road Motor Vehicles section of the Department of Railways & constructed by

Waddingtons Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card games, card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was c ...

. It was placed into service on 7 July 1937. It was originally powered by a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Mercury V8 side-valve petrol engine with a 4-speed truck-style gear box and two fuel tanks. Entry was via a central door on one side only and had seating for 17 persons. The driving position was at one end only with the driver sitting on the right hand side beside the engine. The rail bus was fitted with diameter wheels with a long wheelbase. The body was long and wide. By 1938, it had been converted into a pay bus and was used for the transport of pays to the more remote parts of the New South Wales railway system. In 1964, it was fitted with a new Ford Thames V8 petrol engine. FP1 was withdrawn from service on 3 October 1968 and was handed over to the

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum The NSW Rail Museum is the main railway museum in New South Wales, Australia. A division of Transport Heritage NSW, it was previously known as the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum (NSWRTM), Rail Heritage Centre and Trainworks. Transport He ...

(now the NSW Rail Museum) on 27 March 1969 for preservation. Between August 2008 and July 2009, FP1 was fully restored at

Eveleigh Railway Workshops The Eveleigh Railway Workshops is a heritage-listed former New South Wales Government Railways yards and railway workshops and now venue hire, public housing and technology park located at Great Southern and Western railway, Redfern, City of Sy ...

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

apprentices. After being displayed on the concourse at

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, it was returned to

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both ...

FPs 2-5

The design of these 3 cars was different from that of FP1 in that they were fitted with a wider and longer body and had driving controls at both ends. They were also fitted with inward opening swing doors on both sides of the body & could seat 18 passengers. These three rail buses were fitted with diameter wheels with a long wheelbase. The bodies were long and wide.

FP2

FP2 entered service at Harden on 27 September 1937. In 1942 it was transferred to the Mechanical Branch and was then used as a pay bus. FP2 was withdrawn in November 1969 and scrapped in December 1970.

FP3

FP3 entered service at

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

on 27 September 1937 and was initially used on the Cowra- Grenfell service. By 1939 it was being used as a pay bus. FP3 was withdrawn from service on 3 November 1969 and was scrapped in December 1970.

FP4

FP4 entered service at Cowra on 27 September 1937 and like FP3 was also used on the Cowra-Grenfell service. By 1939 it was being used as a pay bus. In 1947 FP4 was returned to Commonwealth Engineering and fitted with a canopy roof. During 1965 it was loaned to the Way & Works Branch for use on track inspection on the branches in the

Werris Creek Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, New South Wales, Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi, New South Wales, Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line, New South ...

area. A fractured chassis caused its withdrawal from service in September 1967. It was written off in November 1969 and scrapped in December 1970.

FP5 (1st)

FP5 entered service in September 1937. By 1939 it was being used as a pay bus. FP5 was destroyed by an explosion in a payroll robbery attempt at

Yanderra Yanderra is a small village situated on the border of the Southern Highlands and Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia. Geography Yanderra is part of Wollondilly located between Bargo and Southern Highlands' Yerrinbool, and is locate ...

on the

Main South line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

on 8 December 1941. This attempted robbery killed all three rail employees that were aboard the pay bus at the time of the explosion. The remains of FP5 were written off in 1942.

FP6 & FP5 (2nd)

These 2 rail buses saw a return to having only a driving position at one end only along with only having a door on one side. The door on these buses however was a siding door instead of the swing door on the previous rail buses.

FP6

FP6 entered service at Harden in September 1937. By 1939 it was being used as a pay bus. It was withdrawn from service in May 1968, condemned on 3 November 1969 and scrapped in December 1970.

FP5 (2nd)

FP5 (2nd) was built as a replacement for the first FP5 which had been destroyed in December 1941. The chassis was based on a 1942 Ford truck chassis and a hydraulic braking system was fitted. FP5 (2nd) was also built as new as a pay bus and entered service in September 1945. FP5 was stored in October 1968 but was recalled for use at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in July 1969. Due to poor condition it was stored again on 20 October 1969, withdrawn on 3 November 1969 and scrapped on 5 December 1970.

FPs7-12

To replace the aging fleet of existing pay buses, six new pay buses were ordered from

Commonwealth Engineering Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth E ...

in 1967. These new pay buses had a longer and squarer body & were mounted on a 4 wheel chassis powered by an underfloor 6 cylinder Leyland model 0.400 horizontal

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

driving one axle via a

Voith The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Hei ...

Diwabus model 501 fully automatic hydraulic/mechanical transmission & reversing

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...

. This then was coupled to a Voith E13 final drive on one of the axles. They had inward opening doors on both sides & a driving position at each end. The wheelbase of these pay buses was , with a long body. These cars were also fitted with

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

.Rail heritage 2nd fleet
NSW Rail Heritage The front was taken from Commonwealth Engineering's standard bus model. FP7 entered service on 9 April 1968, with the last on 23 July 1968. In April 1970 FP7 was stripped internally and fitted with carpet on the walls and floor and movable chairs installed as well as being repainted externally. This so it could carry

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

and her party between

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

Jetty and Coffs Harbour station. After this use the FP7 was returned to its original condition, excepting that the carpet was kept on the floor.

FP13

FP13 was built at the same time as FP7 - FP12 but unlike FP7-12 it was built purely as a rail bus, with FP13 being designed to carry 18 passengers in nine 2 seat throw over reversible seats. FP13 was used as a rail bus on the

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a po ...

Bombala Bombala is a town in the Monaro region of south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is approximately south of the state capital, Sydney, and south of the town of Cooma. The name derives from an Aboriginal ...

service. It entered service in February 1970. It suffered a seized engine in February 1974 which coupled with a fuel strike saw the withdrawal of the rail bus service. FP13 was stored until March 1980 when it entered

Eveleigh Carriage Workshops The Eveleigh Carriage Workshops were built by the New South Wales Government Railways in 1888 as a depot for its passenger carriage fleet. The workshops are located west of what is now Redfern station on the northern side of the Main Suburban r ...

for conversion to a pay bus.

FP 7-13 Withdrawal & Preservation

In April 1986, the operation of railway pay buses ceased with the last service being worked by FP11 on 4 April 1986 between Lithgow and

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

. All seven were preserved:Pay Bus Technical Information
Rail Motor Society *FP7

Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre The Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre is located at the heritage-listed former railway workshops in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, on the Main Southern railway line. Now a museum, it is also known as the Goulburn Rail Workshop and Goulburn Ro ...

*FP8

Richmond Vale Railway Museum The Richmond Vale Railway Museum operates a railway and museum located at the heritage-listed Richmond Main Colliery south of Kurri Kurri, New South Wales. The museum is a volunteer non-profit organization, formed in 1979 with the aim of preservi ...

*FP9

Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum The Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum in Dorrigo, New South Wales, Australia is a large, privately owned collection of railway vehicles and equipment from the railways of New South Wales, covering both Government and private railways. The collecti ...

*FP10 Crookwell Heritage Railway *FP11

Cooma Monaro Railway The Cooma Monaro Railway is a heritage railway museum that is actively restoring the Cooma Railway Precinct while working on the restoration of tourist trains along the section of track on the Bombala railway line, Bombala line between Cooma and ...

*FP12 Crookwell Heritage Railway *FP13 Dorrigo Steam Railway & Museum

References

External links

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Railcars of New South Wales