VPRS 13667 Drawings, Suburban Cars

This series comprises drawings relating to suburban cars including the Harris Suburban Train Cars. In 1956, the Victorian Railways (VA 2876) introduced the Harris train rehabilitation scheme. This scheme introduced the steel Harris trains to the suburban fleet. The first metropolitan electric Harris trains ran between Essendon and Sandringham on 15 March 1956. These trains were introduced to replace the Tait cars - which were wooden-bodied trains equipped with sliding instead of swing doors. This followed the period where the number of new suburban carriages was 42 from 1928 to 1955. In the ten years following the Harris train rehabilitation scheme, 60 steel trains (420 carriages) were added to the fleet. Hitachi stainless steel trains came into operation in 1972 as a replacement for the "red rattlers", the name given to red-painted Tait trains which entered service in 1919. The series comprised: 1st Series Drawings relate to Harris series suburban train cars. These comprised: 1st series 'M'Cars (Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd). 2nd series Blue Harris Suburban Cars (Commonwealth Engineering Co).