There were three buffet cars for the original broad gauge Spirit of Progress ( SOP ) service. Two cars for the service and one spare car. When the standard gauge line from Melbourne to Albury opened the SOP was transferred from broad gauge to standard gauge bogies.
Buffet car Mitta Mitta became VRS 1, Wimmera (2nd) became VRS 2 and Tanjil, the spare car, became VRS 3. The relettering took place in 1962.
Between 1983 and 1988 the cars were renumbered. VRS 1, 2, 3 became VRS 231, 232, 233.
By 1991 the cars were stored out of use. By 1992, one car had been sold, the others still in storage.