| Z type carriage | |
|---|---|
Exterior of a ACZ type carriage |
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Interior of a first class ACZ carriage |
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| In service | 1957–2006 (As Z sets), now used with N sets to provide additional capacity. |
| Manufacturer | Victorian Railways |
| Built at | Newport Workshops |
| Constructed | 1957–1966 |
| Refurbishment | 1995 to present, refurbished to BZN/BTN carriages. |
| Formation | Additional cars for N sets |
| Operator | V/Line, various heritage operators |
| Specifications | |
| Doors | Manual swing, 2 per side |
| Articulated sections | Rubber corridor connectors |
| Maximum speed | 115 km/h (71 mph) |
| Power supply | Head end power |
| Gauge | Broad, has operated on standard |
The Z type carriages are an air conditioned steel passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways from 1957 for use on intrastate services.
Two major types of carriage were constructed - thirteen AZ first class cars with a closely spaced but small windows, and twelve BZ second class cars with wider spaced but larger windows (the thirteenth BZ entered service on Standard Gauge). Carriages were provided with a saloon layout, with 2+2 reversible seating provided, with each row lining up with the windows. First class was provided with more legroom than second. An internal partition existed between the two ends of the saloon, but was removed in later years. A single twinette sleeping car was also built in a Z type body shell, entering service in 1963; it had 20 berths.
A number of carriages were placed onto standard gauge bogies from 1962 for use on interstate trains such as the Spirit of Progress. With the end of these trains in the 1980s they were placed back onto the broad gauge. During this time a number of AZ type carriages were provided with conductor compartments and recoded to ACZ.
The cars were made redundant by the early 1990s with the introduction of the Sprinter railcars, and a number were sold to West Coast Railway. After the demise of WCR some cars were acquired by V/Line, with the remainder passed to preservation groups such as R707 Operations.
The cars still with V/Line were refurbished from 1995, being provided with 2+3 seating in the N type carriage style, with some carriages also receiving wider doors and toilets with wheelchair access. Today only a handful of Z type carriages remain in unaltered form.
Conversions:
Standard gauge:
Operation of fixed carriage sets was not introduced until 1981, with the 'New Deal' reforms of passenger rail operations and the introduction of the N type carriages. Before this time Z cars could appear on various intrastate trains with other S type steel carriages, as well as older wooden bodied stock.
From the 1980s most of the Z cars was placed into sets made up of an ACZ carriage, BRS snack car carriage, and other BS and BZ carriages. This remained until the early 1990s when the Sprinter railcars arrived, when many of the sets were broken up, with only two remaining: VZ1 and VZ2. From the mid 1990s they also added as additional cars in the N type sets, with the last Z set being broken up in 2006. A number of loose ACZ / BCZ carriages remain, that can be attached to N type sets.
In December 2008, a N carriage (ACN21) was withdrawn from service to be converted to SG to run on the upgraded Albury-Wodonga line. Previously before withdrawal this carriage was in N set SN7, along with the BS cars. Because of ACN21's withdrawal, a Z carriage was introduced into the set permanently. The 5 BS cars and the Z car (BCZ257) were joined into a set coded Z57, as a replacement for SN7.
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