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 branchline steam hauled mixed services and 23 wooden bodied railmotors built in the 1920s. Part of this order were twelve 280hp railcars from Walker Bros of Wigan, England. These cars were to be capable of speeds up to 60mph on the mainline and have a capacity of 94 passengers. A unique feature of this railmotor was the centrally located power unit with a passenger carriage articulated on either end. The power units and controls were shipped out from England and the car bodies built locally by Martin and King in Malvern. The finished units were assembled at Newport Workshops.

These cars entered service during 1950-51 in the 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 280's were based at Spencer Street in Melbourn. They ran services to such places as Werribee, Leongatha, Wonthaggi, Wangarratta, Stony Point and Woomelang. The 280's also had a special relationship with the Daylesford line. This was the first service they ran in June 1950 and they continued as the rostered vehicle between Melbourne and Daylesford until September 1977, when they became the last unit to run a regular passenger train on the line. As the branchlines closed during the 1970's and the 280s became more unreliable (they were built for a service life of just 10 years), units were withdrawn until the last one ran in 1980.

Interesting Notes.

91RM was the last complete unit built and entered service on 30/12/1951. It ran the last passenger train from Mansfield on 28/05/1977. It was the first vehicle restored by the CHTR and entered service in April 1990. Over the past 10 years has run over 12,000 miles.

Restoration Policy

91RM has been restored to its appearance of 1970, just prior to when Second Class was changed to Economy. An example of this is found on page 52 of Victorian Railways Railmotors with 85RM at Daylesford in 1969.