New South Wales Bradfield suburban carriage stock

The New South Wales Bradfield suburban carriage stock are a type of electric multiple unit operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors between 1921 and 1975. They are the first electric carriages type to be introduced in New South Wales and are amongst some of the oldest electric rolling stock in the world.

With the electrification of the Sydney suburban network planned, in 1919 orders were placed for 100 carriages with contracts awarded to three builders, Clyde Engineering (42), Ritchie Brothers (18) and Meadowbank Manufacturing Company (40).^[1][2]

The carriages featured wooden bodies on steel underframes with 43 fitted out as EBB first class carriages and 57 as EBA second class. The carriages gained the Bradfield carriages nickname after the New South Wales Railway's Chief Engineer John Bradfield, even though they were designed by Chief Mechanical Engineer Edward Lucy.^[2][3]

All were delivered between January 1921 and January 1922 numbered 2112 to 2211. One further first class carriage was delivered as 2212 by the Eveleigh Carriage Workshops in January 1923.^[3] All initially entered service as locomotive hauled stock with eight seats fitted in what would later become the driver's cabin.^[1][2][4]

In preparation for the commissioning of the electrified network, the 101 newly-built carriages were converted to driving motor cars at Electric Carriage Workshops, being renumbered C3000 to C3100 and operated with American Suburban stock.^[2][3][4]

In the mid-20s, 183 American Suburban end platform carriages were converted into trailer carriages numbered T4101 to T4284, along with a further nine converted into driving trailers numbered D4001 to D4009.

The Bradfield carriages would on occasionally operate in mixed train sets with the later constructed Standard and Tulloch Suburban cars built in the same and following decades which came as a result of the steel constructed cars using the same electrical system. In the 1950s, some cars had their roofs replaced by Tulloch Limited at Rhodes.^[5]

In the 1960s, some carriages were rebuilt with a door layout reminiscent of later introduced rolling stock at the Elcar Workshop in Chullora. By 1967, 18 carriages were given this feature. These were C3005, C3012, C3035, C3037, C3040, C3041, C3042, C3046, C3050, C3052, C3054, C3055, C3067, C3074, C3077, C3090, C3094, and C3098.^[6][7]

After the retirement of many of the wooden trailers in 1968, the motor cars would continue to work with some hauling the newer Tulloch double deck trailer cars first built in 1964.^[8][5] The last Bradfield carriage was withdrawn in 1975, replaced by the S sets.

The Bradfield carriages were inspired by the New York City Subway cars used at the time. This reflects in their appearance with them having a similar door layout to those used in New York during this period. This was to reduce the dwell time at stations, but not considered a necessary feature and was not given to later rolling stock.^[5] The carriages were all equipped with a sun shade above the drivers window.

Since the wooden trailers converted from previously-built steam-hauled passenger stock, they were slightly shorter compared to the power cars that they operated with at only 15 metres long, while the power cars were a further 18 metres. The trailers only have three doors on each side while the motor cars were built with six.

The cars were fitted with electrical equipment from the English engineering company Metropolitan-Vickers, with two motors placed under the bogie underneath the pantograph. This would extend to the suburban and Tulloch carriages that the wooden stock would mix with.^[5]

The sets were fitted with target plates on the leading and trailing power cars of each train. Every aspect of the target plate had a purpose. The target plates had a letter for the depot, a number for the set, and the colour would indicate how long the train was and whether or not it could be broken up into a smaller consist. All single deck sets were based at Flemington, Hornsby, Mortdale, and Punchbowl depots.^[9]

Most target plates had the first letter of the depot the sets were allocated to, although Punchbowl-based sets had B instead of P on their target plates as a result of the close proximity to Bankstown at the end of suburban electrification. There were 24 sets at Hornsby, Punchbowl, and Mortdale, but 40 Sets at Flemington.^[9]

Blue target plates with the depot letter and set number were fitted to sets that were seven or eight car trains that could not be divided. Red target plates were fitted to seven and eight car trains that could be divided and would be given an extra letter e. g. one half of the set would be F5A and the other half F5B. If the trains could be broken up further into two car sets, they would be given yellow plates with an extra number, such as F5A1 and F5A2. There were also plans to use green plates for four car sets that could not be split up, although there is no record of these in use.^[8] These would have had a display like the red target plates. With the exception of the Comeng-built cars from the 1950s and 60s, this targeting system would be used by the Bradfield cars and subsequent single deck suburban trains in New South Wales until the last sets were withdrawn in the early 1990s.^[8]

Most Bradfield and other wooden carriages were disposed of through scrapping at SIMS, however some were also burned at Port Kembla. Included in this disposal, were all 18 rebodied carriages. Only five cars were preserved.^[10][11]

Sydney Electric Train Society has C3082 preserved. This car were previously owned by RailCorp (now Sydney Trains) but was sold to SETS in 2008 (along with standard carriages C3104 and C3444). This car is currently in undercover storage at Bilpin since 2010.

Sydney Trains / Transport Heritage NSW has C3045 on static display at the NSW Rail Museum, Thirlmere as part of an interactive train set with Walsh Island Dockyard trailer T4310 and Tulloch double deck power car C3804.

Car C3080 and parcel vans C3661 and C3662 were in undercover storage at Rothbury until the Hunter Valley Railway Trust dissolved in 2022.^[12][13] C3661 is privately owned and the ownership of the other carriages is unknown. Due to the advanced age and frailty of the carriages, none have been restored to traffic.