The H type carriages were a class of interurban passenger carriage operated by V/Line in Victoria, Australia. Fitted with high-density 2+3 seating, they were typically used on short distance interurban services from Melbourne to Bacchus Marsh and Geelong until their withdrawal in 2024.
Overview
By 1983, the 1981 New Deal had been such a success that the incoming Cain Government ordered conversion of a fleet of the early Harris suburban Electric Multiple Units to replace the last of the older wooden carriage stock. The fleet eventually reached 59 carriages of multiple types.
For the purpose of contract negotiations, short cars were referred to as SCH, SH or STH and long as LCH, LH or LTH, respectively for conductor, regular and terminal carriages.
Each carriage has two doors per side, manually opened by passengers, but remotely closed and locked by the train conductor (except on MTH cars where originally similar to the Harris trains, access to MTH carriages from platforms is by manual opening and closing double sliding side doors, and thus can be opened by passengers at any time, however the carriages later received a power door mechanism similar to the Comeng and other members of the H type carriages). Toilets, drinking fountains and luggage areas are provided throughout each carriage set.
The carriage sets were originally used for commuter services between Melbourne and a wide range of regional cities. As more long-distance carriages became available, they were reallocated to the shorter runs, typically less than an hour end-to-end. A small number were also used on the Stony Point line.
Coding H type carriages are numbered in the 101 - 200 series. Sets were issued to traffic with three types of carriage: BCH economy class with conductors van: 121–131; 132-133 long; 134 and 135 seat 10 more people but have a smaller van area BH economy class: 141–149, 150-151 were converted to BTH 174–175; 152, 153 long BTH economy class with terminal connections: 161–171; 172-173 long; 174-175 formerly BH 150, 151 MTH economy class with onboard power alternators: 101-104 short
Additional cars were later constructed to increase capacity. These cars do not feature toilets: BIH economy class intermediate: 181-194
Carriage sets The H type carriages originally entered service as 3 car sets, later having additional cars added to bring them up to four, five or six cars. Each set was identified by its length and carriage type.
The initial codes were: SH: 3 short carriages, initially sets SH21-31 LH: 3 long carriages (using carriages converted from the long Harris trailers), initially sets 32 and 33.
Extended set codes were: FSH: the F means that the sets contains 4 carriages (until November 2012) VSH: the V means that the set contains 5 carriages (until November 2012) VLH: the L meaning long (until November 2012) SSH: 6 short carriages (in use November 2012); some of these sets had intermediate BCH carriages. SLH: 3 short carriages coupled to 3 long carriages (in use circa July 2021)
The MTH carriages had a separate roster, spending most of their service life on the Stony Point line.
History and typical fleet use From 1983 Cain/Crabb order, 1983 The contract was awarded to Clyde Engineering, and the initial plan was to convert 33 Harris cars to 11 semi-permanently coupled sets of BCH-BH-BTH. Originally there were concepts to pair each of the carriage sets with a permanently coupled locomotive at the West (non-conductor) end, and to fit the East-end BCH carriages with a small driving stand for controlling the P class locomotives; but this fell through on grounds of safety and inability to stop the locomotive powering instantly in case of a collision, which would have caused the carriage set to telescope.
The initial 43 carriages were sourced from assorted of Harris carriages. The short BCH conductor carriages were all built using 2nd series Harris motor cars (numbered 700 and above), while the BH, BTH and MTH cars were all taken from any era of T or BT trailer car. The six long trailers were used to create their own three-car sets. In no instance did all three cars of a particular set enter service on the same day, so that data can probably be interpreted as "date cleared for use in service," rather than "first use on a train." 1st Set Car Formerly Original builder Date built Date rebuilt Date re-entered service SH21 BCH121 751M Martin & King SH22 BCH122 747M Martin & King SH23 BCH123 781M Martin & King SH24 BCH124 766M Martin & King SH25 BCH125 728M Martin & King SH26 BCH126 726M Martin & King / Commonwealth Engineering SH27 BCH127 750M Martin & King SH28 BCH128 711M Martin & King / Commonwealth Engineering SH29 BCH129 754M Martin & King SH30 BCH130 706M Martin & King / Commonwealth Engineering SH31 BCH131 710M Martin & King SH32 BCH132 892T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops SH33 BCH133 2896T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops SH21 BH141 675T Martin & King SH22 BH142 528BT Martin & King SH23 BH143 516BT Martin & King SH24 BH144 623T Martin & King SH25 BH145 626T Martin & King SH26 BH146 682T Martin & King SH27 BH147 663T Martin & King SH28 BH148 669T Martin & King SH29 BH149 608T Martin & King SH30 BH150 688T Martin & King SH31 BH151 522BT Martin & King SH32 BH152 891T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops SH33 BH153 2895T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops SH21 BTH161 862T Martin & King SH22 BTH162 810T Martin & King SH23 BTH163 821T Martin & King SH24 BTH164 806T Martin & King SH25 BTH165 509BT Martin & King SH26 BTH166 665T Martin & King SH27 BTH167 815T Martin & King SH28 BTH168 834T Martin & King SH29 BTH169 851T Martin & King SH30 BTH170 872T Martin & King SH31 BTH171 804T Martin & King SH32 BTH172 893T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops SH33 BTH173 894T Victorian Railways Newport Workshops Loose MTH101 517BT Martin & King Loose MTH102 679T Martin & King Loose MTH103 524BT Martin & King Loose MTH104 672T Martin & King
First deliveries and uses Locomotive P11 and carriages BTH166, BH148 and BCH121 were sighted at Dynon on 28 May 1984 for crew training; these cars would go on to form parts of sets SH26, SH28 and SH21 respectively. On 21 June 1984 set SH25, complete, was at Dynon, and a week later set SH22, complete, had been worked to Spencer Street by locomotive P12.
A new roster introduced on Saturday 2 June included the first two runs utilising H sets, with trips to Kyneton, Bacchus Marsh and Seymour on weekdays only: Dep. Melbourne To Arr. Melbourne Run 35 Kyneton 08:40 09:05 Bacchus Marsh 11:58 12:45 Kyneton 16:48 17:30 Seymour Run 36 Seymour 08:28 16:35 Kyneton The new roster saw reduced use of a locomotive-hauled set for Subury services (Run 33) and one of the DRC railcars (on Run 37). Prior to this, one H set had been based at Seymour to replace a DRC that had been reallocated to Crib Point for Stony Point line services. When running the Up Seymour train, the P+SH combination typically ran up to eight minutes late through Tallarook but made up the time approaching Broadford and was within three minutes of the DRC schedule by Wandong, two minutes by Donnybrook, and essentially on time (barring conflicting moves causing delays) by arrival at Spencer Street; this was despite the P Class locomotives and H sets (at the time) having a lower maximum speed.
Around mid-late August 1984, power vans PH451-452 and through-cabled luggage vans DH401-402 were at Dynon, and DH403 at Spencer Street, for use with the H sets. At this time, sets SH22 and SH23 and all four MTH trailer cars were in regular use (with P Class locomotives P11-14 inclusive), SH25 was based at Spencer Street, and SH21, SH24 and SH26 were all at Dynon. On 18 September, PH453 was sighted at Spencer Street, and BTH171, BCH128 and luggage van VVBP64 were sighted returning to Newport Workshops following a trial run. On 22 September, sets SH21, SH24 and SH26 were all in use along with DH403. Then on 25 September, set SH22 was at Dynon with vans DH401 and DH402; SH23, SH26, DH403, PH451 and PH452 were spare at Spencer Street yard, and SH21, SH24 and SH25 were all in use. When services were restored to the Stony Point line on 17 September it required use of one of the DRCs, so those rosters were progressively filled by newly available H sets.
The first four sets of three carriages (sets SH22, 23, 24 and 25) were delivered in the middle of 1984, and deliveries continued at a steady pace through to the end of that year with twelve 3-carriage sets, SH21 to SH31 inclusive and LH32, in service. Set LH33 entered service on 28 February 1986, a full six months after the twelfth set.
Set LH33 had been delivered around the same time as LH32, but was banned from service prior to that date. When it entered service it enabled withdrawal of the temporary four-car set SH28 with BH141 inserted; this allowed SH21 to be restored, thus permitting a range of railmotor rosters to be upgraded to H sets. It is not clear why the two-car set BCH121-BTH161 was left unused during the period while the four-car SH set was operating.
Contemporary use The H sets were initially used on commuter runs from Spencer Street to Bacchus Marsh, Kyneton, Sunbury, Seymour and Leongatha and, on Sundays only, a run from Spencer Street to Stony Point, Frankston, Stony Point and back to Spencer Street to provide capacity above that of the normal railmotor. While never intended during the design phase, H sets were rostered on the morning outbound and midday return Shepparton service from Roster H2, dated 9 December 1984. During the long weekend holidays, H sets would occasionally be extended from Shepparton to Cobram as higher capacity rollingstock was needed elsewhere.
Otherwise, for events like football matches and the biannual runs to Lara for the Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport, trains would be formed with nine carriages, a locomotive on each end and another between sets, near the middle. Because of the underfloor multiple-unit cabling, all locomotives on the train would work together from a single control stand; but each set of carriages was powered by its nearest P class locomotive because the power cables, for things like lighting and airconditioning, were only designed for a maximum electrical load equivalent to four carriages.
H sets were normally hauled by either N or P class locomotives, both able to supply the required head end power supply for lighting and air conditioning operation. When hauled by other classes of locomotives or if the HEP failed, a separate power van was coupled to the set to provide that same function.
Four MTH carriages were also converted in 1984, essentially BH carriages with an underfloor alternator fitted and with regular automatic couplers in place of drawbars. These were intended to be used as trailers for the Tulloch Railcars, as the older trailers were of timber construction with no airconditioning. These cars were painted with a grey roof, orange above and silver below the windowsill, to approximately match the unpainted stainless steel of the DRCs.
The four DRC and MTH sets typically worked either as a two-car set on runs to Kyneton and Sunbury (on rosters that often mixed with blue RM-MT sets), or as a four-car set (two DRCs outside, two MTHs middle) on the Stony Point line. When the DRCs failed, as was often the case, between one and three MTH cars (or occasionally, a mix of MTH, MT or E cars) would be hauled by a locomotive, with a CP van used for conductor accommodation. Notably, the MTH car toilets would not function properly unless the carriages were directly coupled to a locomotive or railcar, which limited their utility when in sets such as MTH-MTH-VVCP van; the guard's van had to be moved to the rear of the train at each end of every trip.