Two of these bogie open wagons were purchased with the South Australian order. They entered service as class E, numbers 1 and 2. The VR built another 200 at Newport Workshops between 1927 and 1928. The number group was 1 - 202. The wagons featured barframe bogies with pressed "dreadnought" ends and pressed sides.
During 1941, one hundred E wagons were cut down to flat wagons and recoded _S__, retaining E wagon numbers. E 1 became S 203 as vehicle S 1 was already in service. It is not known whether the sides and ends from the wagons were stored at Newport for re-use or were melted down for scrap. Most of the wagons were rebuilt to E after 1947. Those not converted back had been grabbed as oil tank underframes or retained in S traffic.
In the late 1950's the rivetted bodies were in need of replacement. Welded components were used to rebuilt the bodies as required.
Some E wagons were used in pole traffic. This traffic distributed wooden power poles from the main Brooklyn State Electricity Commission depot to major SEC depots in the country. The depot at Bairnsdale for example kept a stock of about 200-400 poles. The E wagons had doors removed and bolsters on the floor with wood bulkheads secured to the ends.
To provide for wagons on the new standard guage line, thirteen wagons were modified with roller bearing bogies and grade control equipment. They were reclassed to _EF_ and retained the E wagon numbers.
E wagons were fitted with barframe bogies, cast plain bearing bogies and in the late 1970's were fitted with roller bearing bogies.
The 1979 coding for E wagon was VOAA.