The U sets are a class of electric multiple unit (EMU) that were operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors between September 1958 and November 1996. They were colloquially nicknamed "U boats" after the German submarine of the same name.
Development and delivery The New South Wales Government Railways began planning the electrification of the Main Western line over the Blue Mountains from 1949, and with that plan in full swing by the early 1950s, called tenders for 80 cars (40 motor, 20 trailer and 20 first with buffet trailer), with the contract being awarded to Commonwealth Engineering, Granville, in 1954. The cars were fitted with two lavatorial facilities and an Ice box that dispensed Iced water.
Electric traction equipment was supplied by the Metropolitan-Vickers, Manchester and were the final electric trains in New South Wales to have their tractive power supplied from them before they liquidated in 1960.
However, before construction began the order was amended with the twenty planned first with buffet cars built as full first class seating cars, after a review of the New South Wales Government Railways conducted by American firm Ebasco Services Incorporated in the mid-1950s who recommended the change.
Had the change not been approved, these cars were going to be numbered RT6601–RT6620. These carriages would instead become first class carriages, which were given a doorway in the saloon to create both smoking and non-smoking compartment inside the carriages."U-Boats...A Tribute" Railway Digest November 1996 page 43
The U sets were a bit different compared to the suburban single decked trains that were delivered at the same time. They were the first EMUs in NSW to feature stainless-steel construction using technology from the Budd Company, improving train acceleration and giving the trains lower maintenance costs and a longer usable life. Additionally, they were slightly thinner than their suburban counterparts and were fitted with single reflective headlights. The U sets started to be delivered from June 1957.
The cars were numbered as:
TotalTypeNumbersNotes 402nd class motor carsCF5001–CF5040201st class trailer carsETB6021–ETB6040Became normal trailers in 1974 202nd class trailer carsTF6001–TF6020
In service
The first appearance took place on 22 June 1957 when cars TF6006-TF6009 were hauled by electric locomotive 4612 as part of the first official electric train to travel on the newly electrified Blue Mountains line. Normal services began on 15 September 1958 with set U1 (CF5007, TF6008, ETB6021, TF6016, CF5008, CF5005, ETB6022, TF6009 and CF5006), and all were in service by March 1960.
The U sets initially entered revenue service on 15 September 1958 this being a Sydney Terminal to Mount Victoria service which was then known as "The Fish" which first served as a nine car set but eventually was increased to ten cars for future services. Most services were made up of 4 car sets but some were 6–8 cars set during peak hours.
In 1961, a U set trailer was borrowed for the Canberra Monaro Express and Goulburn Day Train that was taken by two 1100 class railcars and was sandwiched in-between the two diesel railcar carriages. This was due to the urgency of needing new carriages for the service that they were taking and at the time only had two motor cars. This U set car would be put back into regular service with its counterparts when the 1100 trailer was built.
The U sets initially operated on the Main Western line as far as Bowenfels which was the limit of the electrified system at the time. This was cut back to Lithgow in 1974. As the electrified network expanded they began to operate to Gosford (23 January 1960), Wyong (April 1982), Newcastle (June 1984), Port Kembla (February 1986) and Dapto (January 1993). The U sets were supplemented by V set double deck sets from 1970.
First class travel was abolished on 1 September 1974. This saw the removal of the word "Second" on all carriages and also allowed non-first class passengers to enjoy the benefits of non-smoking carriages for the first time.
From the mid-1970s many had their original lift-up windows replaced by Beclawat sliding windows. The interiors were originally in brown and green, but some would receive two-tone green interior repaints. The headlights would also be replaced with twin beam headlights and the original pantographs changed to Airmate types.
Between 1973 and 1993, some carriages were damaged in accidents beyond repair and scrapped. +AccidentDateCarriage (s)AftermathBurned while at Gosford11 January 1973CF5034 and ETB6033Both cars scrapped in 1976Damaged in Flemington shunting mishapMarch 1978CF5038 and TF6018Both cars scrapped in August 1981Damaged at Gosford11 January 1982CF5016Scrapped on siteDamaged in Flemington shunting mishap27 October 1983CF5002Scrapped at Elcar works, ChulloraDamaged in Flemington shunting mishap25 December 1989CF5009Scrapped on site in May 1990Collision with electric locomotives 8627 and 8612 at Lithgow 22 July 1993CF5032Scrapped on site
Official withdrawal of the sets began in 1994 as new Tangara G sets began replacing them. The first Tangara G sets entered service in June 1994 and as they were progressively put into service through to late 1995 the U sets were progressively withdrawn.
The final run of the U sets on the Main Western Line for Blue Mountains services was in late February 1996 after which they only performed revenue services on the Northern Line between Sydney and Newcastle. The very last U sets were withdrawn in early November 1996."The Demise of the U Sets" Railway Digest March 1997 page 38
The final revenue service performed by a U set was on Friday afternoon 1 November 1996 – a four car set operating a Newcastle to Sydney service. The final passenger service was on set "U3" (CF5008, TF6004, TF6020 and CF5022).
The final U set to run under its own power was a Sydney Electric Train Society (SETS) Farewell tour two days later on Sunday, 3 November, 1996, performed by an eight car set targeted "U1" (CF5005, ETB6040, TF6005, CF5037, CF5019, TF6010, ETB6031 and CF5011). Many carriages would be scrapped following withdrawal, although a number of carriages have been preserved."Eligible Preservation Groups Car Allocations" Railway Digest December 1998 page 39
Preservation
In 1995, SETS would make a recommendation to CityRail for the preservation of five cars (three motor carriages and two trailers) to run for tours on their behalf. Three motor carriages that were recommended were class leader CF5001, CF5007 and CF5035, the latter of which was damaged in a collision and needed repair. This process would be prolonged by many carriages having cracks found in the under frames.
However in the end, of the three motor carriages originally recommended, only one, CF5035, was selected, with the other two motor cars being CF5015 and CF5017. The two trailers would end up being TF6013 and ETB6029. CF5015 was on display at Central for the railways 140 year anniversary. These five carriages would remain in SETS care until 1997, when SETS went on to pursue owning their own rolling stock, leaving some members who had left to form Historic Electric Traction (HET) to take up the mantel.
These carriages are planned to return into charter traffic as set "U2" bridging the gap between the target numbers of heritage suburban sets F1 and W3. Valley Heights Railway Depot and Museum has custody of ETB6039 on static display.
The Richmond Vale Railway Museum enquired eight trailer carriages. These were ETB6026, TF6001, TF6002, TF6008, TF6009, TF6011, TF6012, and TF6019. In 2017, ETB6026, TF6001 and TF6002 were damaged by bush fires which resulted in the museum's closure. The rest of their U set carriages remain in storage. All of these cars became part of the state owned heritage collection following the formation of Transport Heritage NSW in 2013.
In 1998, the Hunter Valley Railway Trust (HVRT) were sold five cars including CF5001. The others were CF5011, ETB6023, ETB6032 and CF5005. All but CF5001 were scrapped in 2013.
SETS owns six carriages. They own motor carriages CF5003, CF5021 and CF5022 with trailers TF6010 and ETB6037 which were all purchased on 9 September 1998.
These five were stored at Goulburn before they were displaced with most ending up on an unknown property. In 2013, They purchased CF5001 off of HVRT to save the carriage from being scrapped with the rest of the formers carriages along with 46 class electric locomotive 4627.
CF5003 and CF5021 remained at Hornsby until 2009 when they went on display at the Junee Roundhouse Museum before 17 June 2018, when along with locomotives 4615 and 8606 were transferred to Lithgow by Locomotive 8230. The rest of SETS U set fleet are stored on an unknown property in Rothbury. The Glenreagh Mountain Railway has cars ETB6031, ETB6035, TF6004, TF6005 and TF6014 which were all used as steam locomotive hauled carriage stock.
On 24 November 1998, five carriages were purchased by members of the SETS. All five cars are stored at Molong. These were motor cars CF5006, CF5010 and CF5027 with trailers TF6006 and ETB6038, the latter of which retains it's lift up windows. Motor carriages CF5004 and CF5024 remain coupled together and stored at the Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum.
The surviving carriages are as follows:
+The following carriages have been retained for heritage reasons:NumberLocationOwnerStatusNotesCF5001Rothbury, NSWSETSStoredMissing traction motorsCF5003Lithgow, NSWSETSStoredCF5004Dorrigo, NSWKeith JonesStatic displayMissing pantographCF5006Molong, NSWSETS (Unoffical)StoredCF5010Molong, NSWSETS (Unoffical)StoredCF5015Redfern, NSWSydney Trains/Transport Heritage NSWUnder restorationCF5017Redfern, NSWSydney Trains/Transport Heritage NSWUnder restorationCF5021Lithgow, NSWSETSStoredCF5022Rothbury, NSWSETSStoredOn the final revenue U set serviceCF5024Dorrigo, NSWKeith JonesStatic displayCF5027Molong, NSWSETS (Unoffical)StoredCF5035Redfern, NSWSydney Trains/Transport Heritage NSWUnder restorationETB6029Redfern, NSWSydney Trains/Transport Heritage NSWUnder restorationETB6031Dorrigo, NSWThe Glenreagh Mountain RailwayStoredETB6035Dorrigo, NSWThe Glenreagh Mountain RailwayStoredETB6037Rothbury, NSWSETSStoredETB6038Molong, NSWSETS (Unoffical)StoredETB6039Valley Heights, NSW Transport Heritage NSWStatic displayOnly trailer carriage on static displayTF6004Dorrigo, NSWThe Glenreagh Mountain RailwayStoredOn the final revenue U set serviceTF6005Dorrigo, NSWThe Glenreagh Mountain RailwayStoredTF6006Molong, NSWSETS (Unoffical)StoredTF6008Richmond, NSWTransport Heritage NSWStoredTF6009Richmond, NSWTransport Heritage NSWStoredTF6010Rothbury, NSWSETSStoredTF6011Richmond, NSWTransport Heritage NSWStoredTF6012Richmond, NSWTransport Heritage NSWStoredTF6013Redfern, NSWSydney Trains/Transport Heritage NSWUnder restorationTF6014Dorrigo, NSWThe Glenreagh Mountain RailwayStoredTF6019Richmond, NSWTransport Heritage NSWStored
In popular culture and privately owned carriages
Some carriages were modified for usage in the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix, where they are used by the protagonist Neo to run over his adversary Agent Smith. These carriages still retained their City Rail logo but the power carriage in the set, CF5025, was given lighting reminiscent of the Brown Line (CTA), used in Chicago, Illinois. Trailer TF6011 was featured in numerous scenes of Like Minds (2006). A preserved U set carriage appeared in Guy Sebastian's "Standing with You" music video in 2020. 31 cars were purchased for private usage. One of these cars, CF5028 was burned by arson in 1999.