Lettering - All Those Letters In The Corner

• A - Applied to Z vans c1934-1955. Used to indicate Z van fitted with auto couplers. Memo issued 1955 to paint over the A during lifting. The A would have progressively disappeared from 1955 to 1958.
• D - Applied to ZP vans removed from fast speed service. Vans recoded ZP to ZD had a 'D' painted in the corners to replace the 'P'. Indicates 'dual couplings'
• F -
  1. Applied to vehicles suitable for fast running on the standard gauge from 1961
  2. Due to problems with BG/SG use the letter X was introduced for standard gauge interchange vehicles. This changed the 'F' meaning to fast speed bogies, non SG interchange. This meant that the vehicles could either be on SG or BG but could not be put through the bogie exchange facility. With vehicles in BG traffic, this generally meant they were not fitted with Grade Control, a pre-requisite for interstate ( read NSW ) running
  3. In the late 1980s the letter 'Y' was altered to 'F' as it was found that VR has used the 'Y' out of context
• L - Applied to large BW passenger cars to indicate capacity. Used for marshalling in the late 1980s as prebooking seats became mandatory.
• P -
  1. Unconfirmed use on Z vans to indicate 'Plural' couplings for the short interval 1953/1956 when vans were fitted with loco type dual couplings and used on screw coupled passenger train sets
  2. Any vehicle suitable for 70mph running from 1956: TP, BP, ZP(60mph), FP classes
• S - Applied to small BW passengers cars to indicate capacity. Used for marshalling in the late 1980s as prebooked seats became mandatory.
• W - Applied to freight vehicles fitted with special low level aligned bogies. These were the classes BFW, (FCF), VQDW, VBCW. The W indicated 60mph running and suitable for bogie exchange within the 'W' grouping.
• Y -
  1. Initially VR/Vline applied this to any 'F' coded vehicle. It was also applied to vehicles that were coded 'P' ( as in BP ) and replaced the 'P' coding for a while. Rolling stock in the 'P' group (FP, BP) were coded with the last two letters 'PY' and the letter 'Y' used in the corners. FP became VSPY and BP became VBPY as examples.
  2. Within sevral years, the letter 'Y' coding was found to be incorrect as the official 'ANZR'/ARA /NSW meaning was for high speed special bogies such as the NSW 2CM type capable of 115km/hr. Victoriam vehicles coded 'Y' were altered back to 'F' and suitably marked in the corners.

Peter J. Vincent

April 2008