In 1993, three VLEX vans were destroyed in a derailment in Western Australia. In lieu of repayment, V/line requested three comparable vans in exchange. The replacement VLEX's: 873 (ex WBAX 30967), 874 (ex WBAX 30985) and 989 (ex WBAX 30865) arrived in Victoria in July 1993. The vans had been resprayed to represent a V/line red colour.

The three vans were allocated to NRC and were relettered to RLEX. However, this code was unsuitable as they were boxvans not louvre vans. VLEX 873 and 874 were soon recoded to RBAX 873 and 874. VLEX 989 became RLLX 989.

File c299v02 compiled by Rob O'Regan, updated 24/9/2007