The Victorian Railways used a variety of boxcars or covered goods wagons for the transport of all manner of goods. This page covers the history and development of the various classes, and how they changed through their lives.

H (1857) wooden box van Introduced as early as 1857, when the Victorian Railways took over the defunct Geelong and Melbourne railway company, the most common type of boxvan used by the Victorian Railways was known as the H van. From then to 1897 roughly 1,000 wagons were constructed. When an H van was not available or if the load was too tall to fit inside the wagon, the alternative was to obtain an open wagon and fit a tarpaulin over the top.

Officially the class ranged from 1 through 966, but during the early years the Victorian Railways would regularly scrap a wagon and build a new one with the same number.

The initial design was for a , four-wheel underframe with a body of about , rising to at the highest part of the roof. The capacity of the vans was up to or , whichever was reached first. Later designs were slightly different; most wagons had the same weight capacity, although length and height of wagons often changed; at least one wagon wasn't even fitted with a roof.

From 1900, the vans started to be withdrawn from general service, instead shifting to maintenance or recovery work. A number were outfitted with tool kits and equipment, then used at locomotive depots. Otherwise, the H type vans were largely withdrawn as a class by 1909. The earlier vans had been replaced one-for-one with steel I-type open wagons; other wagons had been dedicated to maintenance or repair work. This was roughly when the "H" code stopped meaning box vans, instead becoming synonymous with departmental vehicles.

In about 1915, a handful of wagons were fitted with platforms on the roofs, and used to form an overhead wiring train for contractors working on the Melbourne electrification project. After the project was completed the overhead train was retained for overhead maintenance work.

A small number of vans had been fitted with replacement underframes by the 1970s.

S (1880) bogie boxvan In 1880, twenty boxvans were built by Harkness & Co. for the Victorian Railways. The class given was S and numbers 1 through 20.

The vans were for general traffic; tall, about across (wide) and just under over buffers for an internal capacity of . Each van had a single pair of doors in the centre.

By 1886, S 16 was in use for milk transport. In 1889 a further two wagons, 18 and 20, were modified with the addition of shelving and steel bins, to allow for transport of of raspberries. No.11 is also marked as having increased capacity, but not listed under the raspberries section. In any case, it is thought that the raspberry wagons had returned to normal traffic - but maintained their increased capacity - by 1900.

About half the class were written off the main register in 1891. These vans were recycled as "Casualty trucks", a predecessor to the later H van uses. In particular, vans 6, 11 and 13 are marked as being in use at Spencer St (now Southern Cross), Flinders St / Princes Bridge, and Ballarat. However even with this new use the vans did not last much longer, being replaced with conversions from the OO class of open wagons in 1912. All vans were scrapped by 1913.

B (1957) steel boxvan As the H type wagons were withdrawn, more goods was transported by the alternative method of open wagons fitted with tarpaulins. However, by the mid-1950s this method had become unduly expensive, as tarpaulins were prone to regular damage from weather and improper staff handling practices, as well as simply wearing out. It was decided to recycle old steel underframes, using components from and a similar design to the then-new bogie boxvans, to create a new fleet of four-wheeled, all-steel boxvans.

The first van entered service on 10 December 1957; the underframe had been recycled from open wagon I 15168, constructed in 1924. This van was slightly different from later releases, having flat sheet ends instead of the later pressed steel ridges, which were added for strength.

The original order was made out for 500 wagons of the type; however between branch line closures due to traffic transferring to road (as result of ex-WWII vehicles becoming available to the general public) and the cost-cutting at the end of Operation Phoenix, the order was progressively cut back; first to 400 wagons, then to 350 wagons. However extra components were still available at the time of the final cutback, so the class eventually reached 380 members; the last delivered in 1961. The change of plan is clear when looking at the registers; the wagons from 1 to 350 recycled old I type underframes, while the majority of the 351-380 range had re-used underframes only a few years old, from the KF flat wagon class.

The wagons had a capacity of , or .

By the early 1980s, most were being scrapped with some in use as service vans for the Way and Works Branch. In later years bodies started to be placed at Train Examiner depots as work sheds.

BH (S.A.R. M type) Boxvan (1925) In 1925, the Victorian Railways was paying close attention to W.A. Webb's transformation of the South Australian Railways, with the introduction of new locomotives and rolling stock and general upgrades across the board.

One of the developments was the introduction of new, all-steel, larger bogie wagons for goods trains. These were of various types - boxvans, open wagons and so on. The VR took advantage of the opportunity to save on costs through economies of scale, and made a point of purchasing wagons identical to the SAR types. As a trial, around 1929 the VR hired a number of SAR wagons, including boxvans these were M 7005 and 7372. While on the VR system the wagons were temporarily recoded BHAustralian Model Railway Magazine, December 2018, p.27 It is possible that this code might have been perpetuated if further units had been purchased by the VR.

By the early 1930s, the two wagons had been returned to the SAR.

BB, BA, TT Medium Bogie Timber Boxvan (1957) From late 1957, the last of the then-remaining TT insulated bogie vans were relettered to either BB for general use, or HH for breakdown train use. The fleet, previously with 31 vehicles, was renumbered from 1 to 21 to account for vehicles scrapped or otherwise converted since 1889.

BA reclassing A further ten BB wagons were scrapped between 1959 and 1961, and the remaining vehicles reclassed to BA with the number group 1-5 and 7–12. It seems BA6 was intended to have been renumbered from BB15, but that vehicle was scrapped in December 1961, before it could receive the new identity.

Disposal All wagons were scrapped by 1965, but the underframes of some were recycled - BA8, BA3 and BB2's frames became flat wagons HD230 for the fire attack train, and QD1 and QD2 for a construction train. A further three wagons were used to create HR bogie transports, for Y class locomotive bogie transfers during construction of the standard gauge from Wodonga to Melbourne.

Medium Bogie Steel Boxvans

BB/BP era

BB/BP (1958) In 1958, designs were finalised for a new fleet of boxvans with pressed steel sides, resembling an extended version of the 1957 four-wheel B van type. The new wagons had four sliding doors fitted, one on each corner, and were constructed from 1958 to 1959.

The first wagon built was number 22, following directly on from the older timber fleet. Wagons were constructed starting at BP22, running through to BP102. On the same day as BP102, BP3 entered service, followed by BP4 through BP21, the last to be delivered. At the time, BP1 and 2, of the older type, were still in service.

BP22's first use in passenger service was on a train to Warrnambool on 3 June 1958.

The 100 wagons were built over about a year, and they entered service as either the BB or BP classes depending on the available bogies. BB wagons eventually included 22–29, 39, 41, 43–46, 49, 52 and 57–60. By late 1959 the entire fleet had been upgraded and reclassed as BP, except BB29 and BB45 which were altered in early 1960.

In 1961-1962 the capacity of the BP, BMX and BMF series of wagons was uprated from 33 to 35 imperial tons.

BP98 spent some time in 1961–1963 on the standard gauge, painted in blue with gold stripes and fitted with a generator for head-end power provision. A video of the vehicle in service is available online, timestamp 2:31 to 2:44 It was returned to broad gauge with the generator removed by November 1964.

As of 30 June 1967, 13 BB, 44 BMF, 27 BMX and 17 BP wagons were in service. Three years later, on 30 June 1970, the 44 BMF and five of the BP vans had been converted to BMX for a total of 76, while the 13 BB and 12 remaining BP vans remained in use. These 12 BP vans were numbers 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 20, 27, 54, 56, 64, 66 and 97.

BB/BF22 (1959) The last wagon to be constructed was the second BB22, and it had a different door layout installed. Instead of doors on all four corners, this wagon had all four doors at one end of the body, with the other end sealed. This was a trial design allowing for loading from a shorter platform and carriage of wider loads, but the design required a deeper, stronger underframe at the door end to compensate for the extended body opening. This wagon was classed as the second BB22 (shortly after the classleader had been converted to BP). The design was later used for BLF/BLX and VLF/VLX wagons.

The wagon was relettered BF22 in 1961, then became BMF1 a few months later. It was the only wagon in the series to never be classed BP.

BB (1960) From 1960, a shortage of high-speed bogies saw a number of BP wagons downgraded back to BB. Wagons 77, 70, 10, 85, 14, 51, 71, 19, 9 and 67 were renumbered BB222 to 231. In 1961–62, these became BMF 2 through 11.

BB (1963) A further need for high-speed bogies in 1963 saw wagons BP 37, 41, 47, 52, 65, 68, 73, 74, 81, 86, 89-92 and 96 downrated to BB, but they retained their numbers.

BB73 was relettered as BMF73 fairly quickly, but the remainder were held to 1974. Then most returned to the BP classification with same numbers, while three were converted to BMX with new numbers (47 to 76, 65 to 77 and 86 to 78).

BMF/BMX/BP era (1961 to 1979)

BMF class Starting with BF22 to BMF1 in 1961, wagons began to be fitted with aligned bogies in 1961. This allowed operation at up to 60 miles per hour, against 50 mph for the diamond-frame bogies fitted to BB and 70 mph for the bogies fitted to the BP. The wagons fitted with aligned bogies were coded BMF, to indicate "medium" size distinct from the "long" wagons outlined below.

BMF 2-11 were ex the 1960 batch of BB's, 222–231, all in 1961, and additional wagons were converted from BP between 1962 and 1965, with the final fleet being BMF 1–17, 21–38, 44–46, 48–49, 53, 58, 63, 72–73, 75, 98, 100 and 102.

A total of 49 BMF wagons were in service by 1965. Of those, 20 had retained their original BP numbers, more or less at random.

BMX class From 1965, instead of converting wagons to BMF, BB/BP wagons were instead upgraded to BMX. This code signified fitting of ride control and other features required for operation on the standard gauge network, and these wagons could have bogies switched fairly quickly between gauges.

Most of the first 34 wagons were converted from BP between 1965 and 1968; in 1969 the remaining BMF series was absorbed into the BMX fleet. The final number series was 1-75, 98, 100 and 102, for a total of 78 class members.

Disposal of the last BB's In 1974, the remaining 15 BB wagons were converted. Most had their passenger bogies returned, adding 37, 41, 52, 68, 74, 81, 89-92 and 96 to the fleet, for a total of 23 wagons. Three others, 76, 77 and 78, were converted to BMX.

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