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The Commonwealth Railways was born of a parliamentary act after commitments to the Western Australia Premier, that should Western Australia join the Federation of Australia, a line would be built connecting the Eastern and Western States. Although this commitment was given prior to federation in 1901, it was not until 1911 that work was authorised and the work commenced at Port Augusta on 14th September 1912. The line linking Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta was completed on 17th October 1917 and was built in standard gauge, four foot eight and a half inches. The East and West coasts were now linked, and a third gauge had been introduced into South Australia To complete the journey from Sydney to Perth at least three changes of gauge were required.
On the 1st January 1926 the new Commonwealth Railways also took over responsibility for the railway services of the Central Australian Railway, previously known as The Great Northern Railway. At this time Quorn became a division point between the South Australian Railways and the Commonwealth Railways, with the SAR retaining control of the line from Peterborough to Quorn and the CR operating the line from Quorn both north to Oodnadatta and south to Port Augusta.
This was a direct result of the Northern Territory Acceptance Act of 1910, whereby the Commonwealth accepted responsibility for the completion of the line from South Australia to the Port of Darwin in the Northern Territory. A promise we have waited for almost 100 years to be kept.
The Commonwealth Railways classifications for rolling stock were:
Wagon |
Class |
|||||||||||||||||||
1st |
AB |
ABP |
AP |
NABP |
NABPA |
NAP |
ADH |
NADH |
AF- AFC |
AFR |
NAF |
NAFA |
AR- ARH |
ARJ |
ARL -ARM |
NAR- NARC |
NARG |
NARP |
ARP |
NBHR |
2nd |
B-BD |
NBP |
NBPA |
BM |
NBR |
NBRA |
NBRE |
NBRF |
BR- BRH |
BRI |
BRP |
BRPF |
NBRP |
ND- NDC |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Dining |
D-DF |
NHR |
NHRB |
NHRG |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Mail |
E |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Passen- |
H |
HGM |
HM |
HP |
NHBR |
HR-HRH |
NMS |
HRG- HRGC |
NRC |
NRCA |
NRP |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Steam |
J |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Bulk |
M |
MA |
NSS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Hospital/ |
O |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Special |
SS |
SSA |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Wagon |
Class |
|||||||||||||||
Ballast |
BS |
BAS |
BWS |
NB |
NBP |
NBS -NBSB |
B- BB |
BP |
BPA |
BPS |
BPWS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Cattle |
C- CE |
CBP |
NC- NCE |
NCS |
NCR |
NCY |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Employees |
E- EI |
ER |
ES |
NE- NEC |
NEF |
NEG |
EDS |
EX |
NEI |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Refrigerator |
F |
FA |
NF- NFC |
NFS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Open |
G- GQ (no GI) |
GRX |
NG- NGJ(no NGI) |
NGL |
GS |
GBX |
GCX |
GMX |
NGS |
NGAS- NGCS |
GNX |
GQX |
GHA |
NGSA- NGSD |
. |
. |
Louvre |
L- LF |
LP |
LS |
NL- NLB |
NLS |
LX |
LCX |
LDX |
LEX |
O |
OW |
OWA |
NO |
NOA |
NOS |
. |
Explosives |
P |
PA |
NPS |
NP |
NPA |
NPWS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Heavey |
Q |
QC |
NQ |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Flat Top: |
R- RP (no RI) |
RT |
NR- NRO (no NRI) |
NRS |
RGX |
RLX |
RMX |
ROX |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Sheep: |
S- SC |
NS- NSB |
NSS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Tank: |
T |
TB- TG |
TJ |
NTB |
NTC |
NTD |
NTS |
TK |
TL |
TSA |
TSB |
NTSA |
NTSB |
NTP |
NTV |
TH |
Oil Tank |
TOA- TOH |
TOJ- TOK |
NTO- NTOF |
NTOS |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Weed |
U |
NU |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Covered |
V- VD |
VEX |
VFX |
VS |
NV- NVE |
NVS |
NVSA |
VX |
VDB |
VDM |
VG |
VP |
VPA |
W |
WR |
. |
Goods |
YB |
YS |
YSB |
NYAB |
NYBA |
X |
XA |
XB |
XE |
XR |
XRA |
XS |
XSA |
. |
. |
. |
An explanation of these codes is as follows:
The general rules for conversion from standard gauge to narrow gauge is simply to add a prefix ‘N’, the exceptions to this are:
Special conversions include:
From narrow to standard gauge -