Brief History Of The Class.

After the Second World War, the Victorian Railways were in a very run down condition. A major rebuilding program known as "Operation Phoenix" was planned. One of the first measures was the provision of modern diesel railcars to replace the remaining country branch line steam hauled mixed services and 23 wooden bodied railmotors built in the 1920s. Part of this order was for six 153hp railcars from Walker Bros. in Wigan England and this was extended by a further nine in 1951. These cars were to be used on country branch lines with a maximum speed of 50mph. The power unit was articulated from one end of the passenger car. The seating capacity was 58. The power units and controls were shipped out from England and the car bodies built locally by Martin and King in Malvern, with the finished units assembled at Newport Workshops.

The first cars ordered entered service in 1948-49 with the second order in 1952-53. They were painted in a distinctive blue and silver livery that was unique to Walker Railcars until the mid 1950s, when they were repainted into the standard blue and gold coaching livery. During their working life, the majority of the 153s were based in Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo. They ran the services on the branch lines radiating from these places. The first service run by a 153hp Walker was on the Daylesford line in October 1948. As the branch lines closed through the 1970s and the 153s became more unreliable (they were built for a service life of just 10 years), units were withdrawn until the last ran in 1981. This was also the last Walker type railcar in service.

Interesting Notes.

32RM is one of the last tangible links with the attempt nearly 50 years ago to revitalize the Victorian Railways after the years of neglect from the Great Depression and the Second World War. It is also an example of how the Victorian Railways tried to counter the growing competition from air and particularly road transport with fast and modern services on their branchline network.

32RM is also a physical reminder that Walker railcars provided important daily passenger services to many Victorian communities throughout the 1950s and 60s, at a time when car ownership was still not common place. In the Daylesford region people relied on the daily railcar service to carry passengers, mail and newspapers for 27 years.

Restoration Policy

32RM is currently under going major restoration works at Daylesford and it's hoped to return it to traffic sometime within the next few years. It will be restored to its mid 1950s appearance.