A1868
Information on 1937 era 56' carriage A1868.
- Running number: A1868 (TMS was AS56073 and AL56095)
- Designed by: New Zealand Railways
- Built at: NZR Otahuhu workshops
- Date built: 1937
- Builders diagram:
- Date entered service:
- Date withdrawn: Disposed of by KiwiRail 2013
- Current condition: Under restoration by Steam Inc.
Image: AS56073 at Taihape in 2008. Photo John Bovis
Carriage details
- Weight in working order: 25 tonnes
- Overall Length: 17933mm
- Bogies: 25330
History
A1868 was built at the Otahuhu Workshops in 1937. Originally built as a 2nd class car for North Island express train service and allocated to Wellington. In 1984 was reclassified as an AL car for Auckland suburban train service as AL56095.
In 1997 was rebuilt into a servery car for use in the Auckland charter train fleet. This rebuild was performed by Babcock New Zealand at the Devonport naval dockyard. This included fitting a centrally located servery area with table seating at each end plus the fitting of HEP. Table seating is 2x1 giving a total of 24 seats at tables.
Its last use in KiwiRail charter service is likely to have been in 2011/2012.
It arrived at Paekakariki by rail on Sunday 30th June 2013. On arrival was initially stored but is now well into an overhaul. Our expectation is that it will be main line operational in 2025. We expect to use it as a café car on our train trips in New Zealand.
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