12 October 2024 was a special day for rail enthusiasts as heritage train Bluebird railcar was doing special heritage runs.

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The Bluebird railcars were a class of self-propelled diesel-hydraulic railcar built by the South Australian Railways' Islington Railway Workshops between 1954 and 1959. They were built to provide modern air-conditioned services on the country passenger rail system where the patronage did not warrant the use of locomotive hauled passenger trains, and to replace the ageing fleet of Brill railcars introduced in 1924. Twenty-one Bluebirds were manufactured by the South Australian Railways' Islington Railway Workshops. The fleet consisted of 11 second-class passenger power cars (250 class), three baggage power cars (280 class) and seven first-class passenger trailer cars (100 class). They were first introduced in October 1954; the last unit entered service on 12 November 1959. Their excellent ride, quietness and airconditioning set a new standard in Australian railcars. They operated services on the broad-gauge network from Adelaide to Burra, Gladstone, Moonta, Morgan, Mount Gambier, Nuriootpa, South Australia, Port Pirie, Tailem Bend, Terowie (extended to Peterborough in 1970) and Victor Harbor.

In March 1978, all Bluebirds were included in the transfer of the assets of South Australian Railways to Australian National. In 1989, shortly before all South Australian country passenger services were withdrawn, the 100 class trailers began to be used as sitting carriages on the Indian Pacific and The Overland. The last were withdrawn in January 1993 and placed in store at Mile End and later Islington Railway Workshops. In May 1995, no. 257 was donated to the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide.

In 1997, 15 of the railcars were sold to Bluebird Rail Operations, a business of C.O.C. Limited. In May 1998 Bluebird Rail Operations commenced operating the Barossa Wine Train from Adelaide to Tanunda via the Barossa Valley line with three refurbished Bluebirds (102, 251 and 252). The venture ceased in April 2003, after which the railcars were stored at the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide. In 1998, another four (106, 107, 254 and 255) were refurbished and hired to V/Line for Gippsland line services from Melbourne to Warragul and Traralgon. Following mechanical failures while being trialled on the Gippsland line, the railcars were returned in June 1999. In 2003, four returned to Victoria for a proposed service from Melbourne to Mildura, which did not materialise. Starting in the 2000s, a majority of the railcars were converted to crew cars at Islington Railway Workshops for private freight operators. Following the sale of the former Barossa Wine Train set to One Rail Australia in 2021 and the sale of BM259 to their successor, Aurizon in 2023, all remaining railcars except 257 are in service as crew cars.

In 2013, 257 was restored to operational condition and is now part of the National Railway Museum's operational fleet. Previously, it had a period of public running in 1998 before being sidelined by electrical problems.

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The first of the Bluebird railcars commenced regular service on the Morgan line in October 1954. A regular service to Moonta began in September 1955 and a month later a Bluebird replaced the regular engine-hauled train to Mount Gambier. As additional cars were constructed, their sphere of operation was extended to Port Pirie in 1958, and Terowie and Gladstone in 1959. They also operated to Tailem Bend and Victor Harbor. Unfortunately, they were not able to arrest the slow decline in country passenger numbers. Services to Morgan were the first to cease in 1965, followed by Moonta in 1969, Tailem Bend in 1981, Gladstone in 1982 and Victor Harbor in 1984. After the regular Mount Gambier and Broken Hill services were withdrawn on 31st December 1990 the only remaining operation was an intermittent special to Broken Hill which ceased on the 31st.

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To know more about the NRM, visit their website here :

https://nrm.org.au/

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Music used in this video, Memory Lane by Kevin Macleod

Memory Lane by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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