The family of Walker railmotors were a type of diesel railcar operated by the Victorian Railways in Australia.
After World War II, the Victorian Railways undertook a major rebuilding program known as Operation Phoenix. One of the first tasks was the upgrading of passenger services on country branch lines, through the replacement of 23 wooden-bodied railmotors built in the 1920s, and the withdrawal of steam locomotive hauled mixed trains.
An initial order of twelve railcars, six railcars with trailers, and twelve railcars was placed with Walker Brothers, Wigan, England. It was then extended to include a further nine railmotors and trailers. The first was delivered in 1948, with additions to the fleet running through to 1955.
Construction The power units and controls were built by Walker Bros. and shipped out from Wigan England, the underframes were built by Thompsons of Castlemaine and the car bodies were built by Martin & King, in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale. Assembly took place at the Newport Workshops. The van bodies were constructed with composite wood and steel framework, and aluminium sheeting screwed to the frames.
The engine and trailing units were initially fitted with small plates below skirt level identifying each section as part of that specific railmotor set, i.e. 80RM, but these were removed as units were rotated through workshops and mixed with each other. Within a few years the identity of the and motors was marked only on the cabside door (with nothing on the saloon unit), and on the railmotors only on one side of each motor unit with nothing on either saloon unit. Vehicle identities were occasionally further confused when cabside doors were swapped in later years.
The intended life of the Walker railmotors was only 10 years. However, most remained in service for up to 30 years. In 1981 the Central Highlands Tourist Railway (now the Daylesford Spa Country Railway) acquired 91RM, 32RM and 56MT with the transfer being carried out in March 1982. Restoration of 91RM began in January 1987, and it was certified for traffic in March 1990.
Description Each passenger unit was equipped with adjustable seating, internal heating, non-draught windows, water tanks for drinking or washing, along with ample luggage storage in overhead wire racks. The Walkers were the first railmotors in the Victorian Railways' fleet to provide hot water, this being heated by the engine-cooling system. At least when new, the engines did not cause any vibration in the passenger compartments. The lighting system was powered by the then-standard Victorian Railways' 24vDC supply, which utilised a belt-driven axle generator to charge batteries and 20-watt globes. Trailer cars were not fitted with their own power supply, instead drawing power via jumper cables from adjacent units; the exceptions being 54 and 56MT, which are thought to have had their own belt-driven axle generator to charge their own batteries.
The railcars were fitted with fluorescent lighting, likely a first for the Victorian Railways; lighting in the 102hp, 153hp and trailer units was the then-standard 20W incandescent light bulbs. Trailers were fed power via jumper cables from the attached driving motor. Trailers 54MT and 56MT were provided with batteries interposed between the power feed and the lighting circuits. Originally each unit was delivered with a single, large headlamp at each end; 6RM was known to still have this by . Within a few years twin sealed-beam headlights were fitted to the 280hp units, and this was rolled out across the fleet by the mid-1960s. Bell communication was provided in most, but not all, 102hp motors and perhaps some trailers, for communication between the driver and guard (if present), and to request an upcoming stop.
The light construction of the vehicles proved problematic, with many engine units needing full rebuilds by 1954.
It has been reported that the units had provision for multiple unit control, but that this feature was never utilised. As a result, when running in multiple each unit needed to have its own driver, the two communicating through the standard whistle codes used on locomotives. A trial run with two 280 h.p. units was made to Daylesford circa late 1952, with an experimental coupling made at Newport Workshops. Later tests with coupled railcars worked by two drivers were run to Wonthaggi and Wangaratta.
In later years the railcars' already poor riding qualities had deteriorated, especially due to their light construction. By the late 1970s the Walkers had reached the end of their lives, with a number of railcars being withdrawn from service during 1978 and 1979. By 1980 only 82RM, 85RM and 91RM remained in service. The last Walker railmotor ran on 17 September 1980, with 82RM operating the 08:00 service from Melbourne to Woodend and return.
Liveries Each unit was originally painted in all-over royal blue, with silver roofs, striping and highlighting. After the first of the B class diesels was delivered, the Walkers then in service were repainted, with gold replacing the silver. Over time, the roofs were repainted blue to hide grime, and the logos and striping were made simpler. To improve visibility at level crossings, the cars had thin orange stripes added in the 1950s, followed by a wide orange "dayglo" band over the top of the yellow stripe below window level. Dayglo was designed to look fairly normal in daylight, but to become reflective at night. These stripes were removed from 1968.
A number of internal themes were used, with some cars having ivory ceilings and green and brown walls; others had blue ceilings with brown walls. All cars were fitted with seats upholstered in brown leather.
Classes 102hp & 153hp The final fleet included 13x engine/driving units 1-13RM and 16x engine/driving units 20-35RM which looked similar, though later 153hp units could be distinguished by the different motor unit windscreen shape.
Long and short-van passenger units The 102hp and 153hp driving units shared between them a group of 27 passenger trailing units, each mounted on only one bogie, and pivoting over the associated motor unit. This left one motor unit of each type spare. The trailing units were not identified normally when in service, but some correspondence notes individual identities No.101 to No.112 and No.220 to No.234. This was marked on a small plate mounted on the door from the driver's compartment to the passenger saloon, on the side facing the driver.
It is not clear whether the 102-associated and 153-associated trailing units could be interchanged across classes, though no difference between the two groups is immediately apparent from the general outline drawings. The passenger units were all identical with room for 18 1st class and 22 2nd class seated passengers plus luggage, except for 100, 104 and 220, which had 18+27 seats and room for only of luggage; their tare weight was a ton less than the rest of the fleet. The small-van passenger units could be identified externally by having six, rather than five, passenger windows between the van door and the passenger door.
Comparing handwritten amendments to the various diagrams for these railmotors, it seems likely that 1RM and 2RM were delivered with the small-van trailers, and that the latter trailer was transferred to 5RM at a later date e.g. during regular maintenance activities.
Recorded sightings include: Date/s Unit/s to 1RM and 2RM 1RM and 5RM 1RM and 2RM to 1RM and 5RM to 1RM and 3RM to 3RM and 5RM to 3RM and 8RM to 8RM and 13RM 6RM and 8RM to 3RM and 6RM or 8RM These sightings may give clues as to the specific allocation of van units No.101 and No.102, but it is not definitive.
Similarly, 20RM was probably originally allocated a small trailer, which later ended up being transferred to 21RM.
Newsrail April 1982 records the small-van units as "11, 12 and 20", and attached to 3RM as of , and 31RM as of .
4RM General Motors unit Between 1958 and 1960 4RM was re-engined, replacing its Gardner engine with a General Motors 4082 engine (probably a 4/71) coupled to an Allison TCS2D534 torque converter. There were no external changes, but the internal arrangements were vastly altered. With the changes it was allowed a higher speed than other 102s, instead of , and generally used on runs between Melbourne and either Seymour (Monday to Saturday 7:10pm down and 9:30 up) or Geelong (Friday evening Up theatre service).
280hp Separate to the paired units, railmotors 80-92RM consisted of two driving/sitting units, one either side of the power unit that gave its identity to the full consist. Originally, 80-91RM were in service and 92RM was spare without attached driving/passenger units.
One unit in each pair was fitted with seating for 38 1st class passengers, and the other had 56 2nd class passengers, for a total of 94 seats. Each was also capable of holding of luggage; only the train crew were permitted to walk through the centre motor unit engine room.
Unlike the and variants, the driving/passenger units of the series were classed A880-A891 for the 1st class units, and B880-B891 for the 2nd class units. It is not known whether the A and B units were unique in some way, or effectively mirrors of each other with different window spacing and internal arrangements; therefore it is not known whether an A+RM+A or B+RM+B unit could have worked, though it certainly never happened in practice.
Trailers To go with the Walker railmotors (particularly the 153hp varieties), sixteen trailer cars were built. The first were delivered as class RMT, numbers 50 and 51; they were reclassed to MT in 1949, and further deliveries brought the class up to 64MT.
Each was mounted on two bogies with no driving stands, so they required a runaround at terminal stations. Stylistically, they matched the and railcars, and were a little less tall than the type.
Each trailer had capacity for 16 1st, 22 2nd seated passengers and 2 tons of luggage, except 55MT fitted with 38 2nd-class seats instead of a mixture.
Like the motors, these trailers were not fitted with standard couplings so special arrangements had to be made when it was necessary to move one of the trailers with a normal locomotive.
Trailers were almost always allocated to work with 153hp motors; the only recorded instance of a 102hp Walker railmotor regularly working with a trailer was on the Kerang-Koondrook tramway from ; that line was relatively flat, had a very low track speed limit, and carried an average of sixty passengers each way per day in including Kerang school traffic.
In service Early trials
The first run was on 15 March 1948, between Heathcote and Wallan on the North Eastern line; this was with , 1RM. The first unit ran from Spencer Street to Daylesford, until that roster was taken by the first of the units - 80RM - on 6 June 1950.
1RM had made a test run to Kilmore and been put on display to schoolchildren there before it entered service; by it had run . 2RM entered service shortly after 1RM, having been inspected by the Governor at the time.
The 102hp Walker railmotors, in the year from the first entering service, operated on five routes: Wallan-Heathcote, Ararat-Hamilton, Ouyen-Pinnaroo, Rushworth-Girgarre and Numurkah-Picola. Each of these services replaced an existing AEC railmotor. The 153hp Walkers started service on the Melbourne-Daylesford line and were later superseded by the 280hp Walkers on the same line. Similarly, the Melbourne-Tallarook-Mansfield run was rostered for a Walker, probably a 153hp unit, from . By the trains were running from Mansfield to Melbourne and return, once per day exccept Sundays.
The first 153hp rosters, as of , were Ballan-Ballarat, Ararat-Portland and Traralgon-Maffra.