Commonwealth Railways NDH class railcar

The NDH class railcar was a type of diesel railcar designed by Commonwealth Engineering and built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company in England for the Commonwealth Railways, Australia in 1954.[1][2][3]

NDH class railcar
Manufacturer	Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
Entered service	1954
Number built	6
Fleet numbers	NDH1-NDH6
Operator(s)	Commonwealth Railways
Specifications
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)

The first entered service on the narrow gauge on the Central Australia Railway in December 1954. Two were transferred to the North Australia Railway in July 1955 having been transported by road from Alice Springs to Larrimah.[1][2][3][4][5] Following the opening of the Marree line in 1957 some were converted to standard gauge trailer cars. Following the cessation of North Australia Railway services in 1966, these railcars returned south and were also converted.[6] All were withdrawn by 1977.[7].

Preservation

NDH1 was purchased by Mile End Railway Museum in 1983 but the carriage was never collected because NDH1 was in a very poor condition[8]. NDH2 was offered for sale by tender in 1979 at Whyalla and was sold to a private owner who converted the carriage into a dining car and renamed it 'Duke of Gloucester'. NDH2 was then sold to a private owner in Western Victoria in 2013 [9]. Shortly after NDH3 was withdrawn, it was sold to a former heritage park, Homestead Park in Port Augusta. The carriage was then purchased by the Pichi Richi Railway at an unknown date [10]. NDH4 was offered for sale by tender in 1979 at Whyalla and is likely to have been scrapped in 1980 [11]. At an unknown date, a private owner purchased NDH5 to be located at Berrimah as a place of residence [12]. NDH6 was sold to a restaurant in Darwin called 'The Train on Gardiner Street' and sold again in 2005 to the Adelaide River Heritage Centre [13].

References

1. "Australasia" Diesel Railway Traction February 1955 page 49
2. "Diesel Economy in Central Australia" Diesel Railway Traction August 1955 page 253
3. "Notes and News" Diesel Railway Traction December 1955 page 386
4. "Australasia" Diesel Railway Traction April 1956 page 137
5. "Commonwealth Australia Railways" Railway Gazette 13 April 1956 page 187
6. "Lucrative Year for Commonwealth Railways" Railway Gazette 2 December 1966 page 38
7. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
8. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
9. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
10. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
11. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
12. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information
13. NDH Class Gloucester Railcars Chris' Commonwealth Railways Information