A "new" carriage for OTHR

April 18, 2024

There was a surprise for everyone at the Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway late on the afternoon of Sunday, April 14. It was the delivery of a "new" train carriage to add to the railway's collection. The surprise was that it wasn't expected to be delivered until the following Tuesday, but it's the sort of surprise that doesn't bother anyone.

Carriage LFA1958 arrived on a trailer specially built for the transport of rolling stock, so unloading it was just a matter of having the right length of track available to accommodate the carriage. The truck was driven by Craig of Australian Train Movers, and had come down from Broadmeadow. Craig managed to impress everyone there by his ability to reverse the trailer to exactly the right place it needed to be to unload the carriage. (The wheels of the carriage on the trailer had to align with rails on the ground.)

A precisely placed trailer.

The process of unloading the carriage was relatively simple - tilt the trailer a little, line up the rails on the tailgate with those on the ground, and then use gravity to do the unloading controlled by a winch.

The first step - get the ramp right.

And down she comes.

A perfect fit to just the right length of rails.

A little history on the car has been kindly supplied by Evan Rees.

LFA1958 went into service in March 1891.
Built by John Morrison of Strathfield as part of Contract 34/90.
One of the original cars from Set 10.
Originally 1st class No.146.
Renumbered 1892 to BB298.
Downgraded to 2nd class and recoded FA 3/1941.
Fitted with lavatories, recoded LFA 7/1963.
Renumbered in 8/1971 to LFA1958 to avoid conflicting with Indian Pacific cars numbered in 2xx range.
Condemned December 1974, allocated to NSWRTM for use on the Loop Line.

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