The introduction of high-capacity bogie freight cars onto the broad-gauge lines of the South Australian Railways under the Webb administration in the 1920s.

The following article by Douglas Colquhoun is an expansion of one written for Catchpoint magazine and published in May 1984.

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There was a time in South Australia  when one could be forgiven, on hearing railwaymen discussing their work, for believing that he or she had been transported to some railroad in the United States of America. Talk would have been of freight trains made up of  box, gondola, and flat cars, each with a caboose at the rear. These trains were hauled by locomotives of distinctly North American configuration (though built in England and locally at the SAR's Islington Works), ran over tracks often worked by Train Order, and with switches protected by switchstands. This was the South Australian Railways after undergoing rehabilitation under the Webb administration.

Many of the practices then introduced have since disappeared, and the last decade or so has seen the withdrawal from service of the last of the high-capacity rolling stock, but the transformation under Webb was to have far-reaching effects on railway operations within South Australia.

When W. A. "Bill" Webb, formerly of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, was appointed Chief Commissioner of Railways in 1922 he found the South Australian Railways stagnating under indifferent management. Locomotives and rolling stock were still being built to antiquated designs that had seen few innovations over the previous fifty years. Little thought had been given to the modernisation of equipment, and though there had been a considerable expansion of the state's railway system between 1900 and 1920, rolling stock developments had not kept pace with it. In many instances new lines were being worked with locomotives and wagons built in the 1860s and 70s.

Under Webb's management, the SAR was to cast aside the outmoded practices to which it had clung for so long, and to attain an efficiency of operation then unequalled in Australia. It could be argued that this was achieved at a cost that proved almost disastrous to the government of the day, but history has shown that his reorganisation was long overdue. Had it not been undertaken, one can only speculate as to how the SAR would have coped with the transportation crisis that arose during World War II 15 years later. Webb set standards that served the SAR for the next forty years and which were, to a varying degree, emulated by other railways throughout the Commonwealth.

At the time of his arrival the SAR had in service 3,200 broad gauge  wagons, most of which were 4-wheel open wagons. Covered vans amounted to a mere 158 units. Disregarding livestock vans, the carrying capacity of these vehicles was 37,000 tons; an average of just over 12 tons each. However, many were of wooden construction, built to obsolete designs, and carried less. Except for the Y-class 4-wheel steel open wagons, of which 1,267 were built between 1909 and 1923, there had been little attempt at standardisation of types. Of the bogie wagons then in service only the Ww-class wooden open wagons contributed significantly to the carriage of freight. With a carrying capacity of 30 tons, 95 were built between 1914 and 1916.

It was obvious that with the advent of more powerful locomotives with their much increased drawbar capacity, the large number of existing 4-wheel wagons would place severe restrictions on increased train loads. The introduction of high-capacity bogie cars would solve this problem, and provide a more satisfactory tare/load ratio. Subsequently orders were placed with the American Car & Foundry Export Company for 1,200 bogie cars, made up of 600 gondola cars each of 40 tons capacity, 500 box cars each to carry 30 tons, and 100 louvred cars also of 30 ton capacity. Additional orders were placed with the SAR's Islington Workshops for 200 flat cars to carry 50 tons each, another 150 gondola cars, 200 cattle cars, and 250 sheep cars, giving a total of 2,000 new bogie cars. Disregarding the livestock cars, this provided 1,550 cars with a capacity of 58,000 tons - an average load per car of 37.42 tons. All were placed in service between February 1925 and June 1930.

Another type of car, then considered essential for freight train operation, was introduced in February 1925. This was the caboose, of which 40 were built in three batches at Islington Works. The first twenty were outshopped in 1925, a second batch - of ten - were built in 1926, and a final ten constructed in 1928. It had been intended that the final ten should be issued to the narrow gauge but this was never done, and all saw unbroken service on the broad gauge. The cabooses supplemented the 69 composite bogie goods brake vans built between 1895 and 1919 and permitted the withdrawal of the old 4-wheel brake vans.

The following table lists the cars in order of their introduction:

Within a space of six years the SAR had attained the highest percentage of bogie freight rolling stock operated by any government-owned railway in Australia, and although further types of 4-wheel vans and wagons were later built, this percentage was maintained into the 1960s.

Tank cars, unlike the other types, were not ordered in large quantities, but were placed in service progressively - in small groups as the need for them arose. Also, though blocks of numbers (48xx and later 84xx) were assigned to these cars, they were divided into sub-types (eg. oil, water and acid) that were distributed haphazardly throughout the numbering series. For instance, in February 1929 two acid tanks, numbers 4854 and 4855, were issued, followed by seven oil tanks, numbers 4856 - 4862 placed in service between February and April 1929. No.4863 was an acid tank built in March 1929, and so on. Additional cars of both types were placed in service the following year, but the whole business was further complicated with the introduction of 30 water tanks, numbers 4800 - 4829, between November 1929 and February 1930. Each type also differed in size and capacity: acid tanks carrying 4,500 gallons, water tanks 9,000 gallons, and oil tanks 8,500 to 10,000 gallons. Acid and water tank cars were wholly owned by the SAR, while oil tanks were generally owned by the oil companies and mounted on Islington-built underframes.

Classification of tank cars was as follows:

In later years additional classifications appeared as tank cars were built to carry other commodities, such as steam locomotive oil fuel (TOL class) and diesel fuel oil (TDF class). Some tanks were mounted on W-class (formerly Ww-class) open wagon underframes and two TOLs on Fb flat cars.

Two remaining standard types of car were not introduced under the Webb rehabilitation, though they were part of the "big car" policy then existing. These were the Hopper and refrigerated cars, which were introduced in 1936 and 1937 respectively, some years after Webb had returned to the USA. The Hoppers were numbered in the 9100 series, and the refrigerator cars numbered upwards from 9002.

Mention must also be made of two further types of cars which, while oddities, were nevertheless products of the Webb era. The first was the MMp-class refrigerated milk van, of which two (numbers 9000 and 9001) were outshopped by Islington in November 1926. The second was a single car for the transport of motor car bodies. Classed MBp and numbered 8000, it was also built at Islington, and placed in service in June 1930. This car was an adaptation of the M-class box car, but stood six inches higher, and each side consisted of six double doors, predating the SLX-class "all door" louvred vans by 35 years. No.8000 was the first specialised car to service South Australia's bourgeoning motor car industry. No further cars of this type were built, however, as it was found more practical to use suitably modified O-class cars for this traffic. Cars built specifically for the transportation of motor car bodies, and complete vehicles, were first built in the years following World War II, and eventually comprised a sizeable proportion of the SAR's freight stock. It should also be mentioned before going further that the "p" suffix used in the classification of the MMp and MBp cars - and subsequent other classes - showed that they could be attached to passenger trains.

SAR's 740-class Mikado No.744 approaches Adelaide through the North Parklands with a southbound Leigh Creek coal train (O-class gondola cars and caboose) in 1952. Photo by Douglas Colquhoun (DAC8053).

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