A1953

Carriage details

• Weight in working order: 25 tonnes
• Overall Length: 17933mm
• Bogies: 25330

History

A1953 was completed in May 1939. The car was built as a 2nd class car of the period being 56ft long and having one passenger compartment with 59 seats, one toilet, steam heating and electric lighting. Running gear included roller bearings and automatic Alliance couplers. It was one of a batch of 22 cars built at Addington between 1939 and 1940 that were all 59 seat cars. All of these cars had an extra toilet compartment fitted between 1941 and 1943 giving them the standard 56 seat configuration. In 1956 an interior refurbishment included red leather seat coverings.

When built A1953 was assigned to Invercargill for use on the SIMT and branches. In 1965 the car was assigned to Dunedin suburban train services. With the withdrawal of steam locomotives and "steam heating" two Skope electric heaters were fitted in 1969. This reduced the seating to 52. By the end of 1979 A1953 was surplus in Dunedin having been used on Dunedin - Port Chambers services that had been cancelled. A1953 was then transferred to Wellington and had the electric heaters removed at Addington Workshops on the way up. Between March 1980 and early 1983, A1953 was used on Wellington suburban trains. April 1983 saw the car transferred to Auckland for Auckland suburban rail use, but retained its two toilets for excursion train use. The "Cityrail" stripe and logo were applied.

A1953 as A56544 in CityRail livery. Auckland 1992.  Photo: John Bovis

A56544 branded for Auckland CityRail service during a visit to Wellington.

With the phasing out of the subbie carriage trains in Auckland A1953 was assigned to the Auckland "charter fleet". It was painted in the original blue colour. In December 2006 A1953 along with 3 other charter cars was transferred to Wellington to help out on the Masterton- Wellington train services while the new SW cars were being introduced. It returned to Auckland at the end of 2007. A1953 arrived at Paekakariki by rail from Auckland on 18th November 2008. A1953 was added to our active main line fleet late in December 2012 and with its carpet and fabric covered seats has been a popular car for our rail excursion travellers for the past decade. 

A1953 at Steam Inc Paekakariki in 2012

Thanks to Juliet Scoble and John Bovis for the information in these notes.

Interior of carriage A1953

A1953 (A56544) at Otahuhu Tranz Scenic Depot Oct 2008.

A1953 at Otahuhu Oct 2008.