The South Maitland Railways railcar was a class of diesel railcar built by

Tulloch Limited Tulloch Limited was an Australian engineering and railway rolling stock manufacturer, located at Rhodes, New South Wales. History In 1885 Robert Tulloch founded Phoenix Iron Works in Pyrmont. In 1913 the business was incorporated as Tulloch's ...

for the

South Maitland Railway The South Maitland Railway was once an extensive network of privately owned colliery and passenger railway lines which served the South Maitland coalfields in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia and were the second last system in Aust ...

(SMR) in 1961. Having had all of carriages destroyed by a fire in March 1930, the SMR arranged for services to be operated by the

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differen ...

(NSWGR). However, with the service running at a considerable loss, the SMR sought to reduce costs by introducing diesel railcars."When Diesels came to the South Maitland Railways'' ''

Australian Railway History ''Australian Railway History'' is a monthly magazine covering railway history in Australia, published by the New South Wales Division of the Australian Railway Historical Society on behalf of its state and territory Divisions.Tulloch Limited Tulloch Limited was an Australian engineering and railway rolling stock manufacturer, located at Rhodes, New South Wales. History In 1885 Robert Tulloch founded Phoenix Iron Works in Pyrmont. In 1913 the business was incorporated as Tulloch's ...

to answer an enquiry from the SMR for diesel railcars submitted a 65-page proposal document to SMR. As a result of this proposal SMR also approached

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 Engi ...

for a request for a tender. In 1959 an order was placed with Tulloch Limited with all delivered for services to commence on 1 October 1961. Tulloch developed the design for the railcars with the assistance of

Tube Investments TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as ''Tube Investments'' in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tu ...

of England whom Tulloch had had a technical assistance agreement since 1959. The car bodies and underframes were of mild steel construction. Upon completion the railcars were tested on the NSWGR network in the Sydney region, travelling as far as Penrith. Railcar No.1 was delivered to East Greta Junction on 26 April, followed by No.2 on 2 June and No.3 on 14 July. 1962 S

They operated all services on the line from Cessnock to

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

except for the daily ''Cessnock Express'' to Sydney which continued to be operated by the NSWGR. All were painted royal blue and yellow. The original timetable provided services throughout the day, seven days a week. In May 1965, Saturday afternoon and all Sunday services were cancelled while off-peak services on weekdays were reduced to three in the morning and three in the afternoon. In January 1967 all SMR operated passenger services were cancelled and the railcars withdrawn and placed in store at East Greta with a replacement Rover Motors bus service to

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 ...

introduced.Our History
Rover Coaches The through NSWGR operated services continued until May 1972. After attempts by SMR to sell the Tulloch railcars failed, they were scrapped in 1977.

References

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Railcars of New South Wales Rail transport in the Hunter Region