Part V - Passenger Cars
"E" Class Bogie Express Passenger Cars
In 1903 ( Later Sir) Thomas Tait produced the design for the 'E' Series carriages, based largely on contemporary Canadian Pacific practice. Between 1906 and 1924, 101 carriages, 37 brake vans and 10 traveling post offices were built for mainline express passenger trains. A number of these cars were for the Victorian & South Australian Railways Joint Stock use on Melbourne - Adelaide Trains. Features of the 'E' cars included their lavish decoration, bevelled mirrors above the windows and six wheel bogies.
As built the class consisted of the following vehicles:
- AVE - 1st Class
- BVE - 2nd Class
- ABVE - 1st & 2nd Class
- EBSV - 2nd class with postal sorting compartments (TPO)
- Sleeping Cars
- Parlor Cars
- Dining Cars
- Baggage Cars (?)
- CVE - Guards Van
- State Car Number 4
All cars were 71 foot in length with the exception of the Guards vans which were 60' 2".
About 1914 the use of the letter 'V' (denoting Vestibule) was dropped from the class code
During their service life a number of the vehicles were modified. General use of the E cars ceased during the 1980's with the introduction of modern passenger stock.