Brief History Of The Class.
In the late 1960s the Victorian Railways were searching for new vehicles to improve services on their branchlines and secondary lines. At this time, the New South Wales Government Railways had ordered a number of new aluminum air-conditioned railcars from Tulloch for the Riverina services. The VR decided to order two similar railcars from Tulloch to replace the 280hp Walker railmotors on the Ararat to Portland services. These new railcars entered service in 1971 and were numbered DRC40 and DRC41.
The air bag suspension gave a superior ride but their complex electrical systems resulted in many failures. By 1974 the NSW railways were beginning to withdraw their fleet of Tulloch railcars due to these problems. The VR had greater faith in the vehicles and purchased two NSW units. These entered service in 1974-75 as DRC 42 & 43 after modifications to match the existing DRC's. Services to Leongatha and Donald then became regular runs for the DRCs along with some services to Yea and Mansfield.
The reliability was becoming a major concern and by 1978 they had the worst record for availability, even though they were only 7 years old. In the early 1980s a major rebuilding program commenced to replace the electrical systems and make other modifications to improve their availability. Helped by their use on shorter runs to Kyneton, Seymour, Bacchus Marsh and Stony Point, this improved as the 1980's passed. By the early 1990s they had become one of the most reliable vehicles operated by V/Line, 20 years after being introduced. They were however destined to run for only another few years as they were replaced by the 22 new Sprinter railcars then entering service. All 4 DRCs were withdrawn in June 1995.
Interesting Notes.
The DRCs were the first vehicles in Victoria to have air bag suspension.
Restoration Policy
DRC40 was in a running condition when purchased by the CHTR, requiring only brake work to commence service. It has had the V/Line orange and grey paint removed and was returned to the natural silver/aluminum finish of the mid to late 1970s.
