With the introduction of "E" type express stock in 1907, some of this stock was used for the Adelaide - Melbourne trains. The stock was operated on a joint basis with Victoria paying a 60% share of construction costs. Maintenance was by mutual arrangement; generally negotiated every three years.
Between 1907 and 1923 sleeping cars were built for the "Overland", a run of over 600 miles between Melbourne and Adelaide. The cars built were:
Acheron Adelaide ( Torrens ) Angas Baderloo Ballarat ( Glenelg ) Barwon Coliban Dargo Inman Melbourne ( Loddon ) Macedon Mount Lofty Onkaparinga Pekina Tambo Wolseley ( Finnis )
The cars were issued with the names of cities on the main Adelaide Melbourne route. In 1910, the car names were altered to the names of rivers in each state.
Macedon and Mount Lofty are the names of mountains in Victoria and South Australia.
With the introduction of the stainless steel "Overland" cars in the early 1950's, these sleeping cars were replaced. The "Joint Stock" portions were "paid out" and selected cars transferred to the state systems.
The VR took over nine cars and renumbered them 1 to 9 in 1969. They were used on the "Train of Knowledge" runs where school children travelled the state of Victoria on weekly excursions.
With the demise of these trips in the early 1990's, the cars were placed for historical preservation. As such, they were repainted with their old names.
File c191m compiled by Peter J. Vincent, updated 2/8/2007