SX carriages


The SX carriages were a type of passenger carriages constructed by Commonwealth Engineering for the Queensland Railways in 1961/62.

History

The SX carriage stainless steel bodyshells were constructed by Commonwealth Engineering, Granville with the fitout undertaken at Rocklea in 1961/62. They were built to operate suburban services on the Brisbane rail network. They shared many components with the New South Wales U set carriages.
Initially hauled by steam and later diesel locomotives, provision was made for their conversion to electric multiple units once the network was electrified. Sixteen seven-carriage sets were completed. The conversion never occurred and they were gradually replaced from the 1980s as EMUs and SMUs entered service. The last was withdrawn on 2 December 1999.
To allow extra services to be operated during the 1987 America's Cup yacht regatta in Fremantle, 14 were leased to Transperth in October 1986. Initially intended as a short-term deal, they would remain in Perth until returned to Queensland in 1991. Others were exported to the Auckland Regional Council, Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia and State Railway of Thailand.
One set has been retained by Queensland Rail's Heritage Division while others have been preserved including seven at the DownsSteam Tourist Railway & Museum, another set in Cairns with Cairns Kuranda Steam Pty Ltd and a set owned by Queensland University of Technology.