The 1970 Blue Goose DDIUs

goninan_bl00d · Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 10:42 pm

During the time the site was down, I had a bit of spare time, and did a quick writeup summing up everything from previous posts about these cars, and other sources of information including the Under the Wires Interurban photo book.

Although today the DDIU fleet comprises a rather large cross-section of rollingstock, from the 'old' DC series to the Tangara-in-a-steel-bodied DK series, not many people know about their predecessors, the first 16 cars delivered in the 1970s by Comeng, even well before the introduction of double-deck electric rollingstock that we take for granted today. Here's a brief overview of these 16 cars, and what made them stand out from the DDIU rollingstock we know today.

In 1968, NSWGR (not even the SRA yet, if that's an indication of how far back this was) placed an order with Comeng for 16 double-deck, stainless steel bodied interurban cars. This order was placed before the trials for the powered double-deck electric cars(which we know today as the R and S sets) had begun yet.

These new cars were ahead of their time, being the first all-enclosed rollingstock featuring air-conditioning and improved electrical equipment. The plan was for 16 cars to be ordered, with 8 motor cars, 4 trailers and 4 driving trailers, all built by Comeng with electrical equipment supplied by AEI.

They were numbered following the pattern below:

Motor Cars: DCF 8001-8008 (Economy Class)
Driving Trailers: DDC 9001-9004 (First class-upper deck only)
Trailers: DTC 9011-9012 (First class- upper deck only)
DTF 9021-9022 (Economy Class)

The numbering pattern followed standard NSWGR car nubmering at the time. The D stood for Double-Deck, the middle letter was either C(for motor car), D(for driving trailer) or T(for trailer) followed by the last letter with C meaning mixed class(first class-upper deck only) and F meaning Economy class throughout the car.

The first of these cars were delivered in June, and a four car set made its first run from Sydney to Gosford in June 1970, targeted on one end as U22b[?] and at the other as F111 (which was unusual, as it was a double-deck interurban car). Revenue service commenced weeks later, and the rest of the fleet was delivered by September. In service they were targed as U sets, with individual car numbering distinguishing them from the single-deck U sets.

However, despite the new technology introduced in these cars, they were extremely unreliable in service, and frequently failed to run, or stalled. The root of these problems turned out to be directly related with the configuration of the electrical equipment in these cars.

As not much was known about what was required in the new rollingstock, the decision was made to use motor-generators to supply the cars with power for auxillary functions such as air-conditioning and lighting. As the fitting of the motor-generator left no room for the compressor on the motor car, and as the use of 1500V jumper cables had been ruled out due to technical reasons, they chose instead to use a 415V compressor mounted on the trailer car, supplied with current from the motor-generator and on a shared circuit with the air conditioning system.

The compressor used up the majority of the current from the motor-generator, and when it came to air-conditioning, they simply chose the smallest possible, as they would share the 120V supply with the compressor. The requirements for air-conditioning units were not known at the time, as these 16 cars were the first electric air-conditioned rollingstock in Australia.

On extremely hot days, when the air-conditioning units were operating at full capacity, the added load of the compressor and the heat caused the motor-generator's circuit breakers to trip, therefore stalling the whole train. As these cars were delivered earlier in the year, when the climate was colder, the extent of this problem was not realised until much later in the year, and much too late to make changes.

As a result of this, modifications were made to the layout of the electrical equipment of future motor cars, which had both the compressor and the motor-generator on the motor car, which led to a modified deck window arrangement on both motor and trailer cars.

The first fatal accident involving a double-deck car, which also led to the writing-off of DCF 8004, was a direct result of 120V stalling. On the 16th of January 1976, a 6-car consist stalled on the Lapstone viaduct and was hit from behind by electric locomotive 4623. It was a hot summer day, and the consist's air-conditioning units were working at full capacity. When the driver applied the brakes, the added load of the compressor tripped the circuit breakers, causing the train to stall. The guard in DCF 8004, which was the last car, left the cab to investigate the cause of the electrical fault. This action saved his life, as the locomotive hit only minutes later. One passenger was killed and several others were injured. To clear the tracks, the decision was made to push DCF 8004 off the viaduct into the valley. 8004 was retrieved in the 1980s using RAAF Chinook helicopters. As a result, DCF 8004 has the dubious honour of being the first double-deck car to be written off as a result of an accident.

Not much could be done to improve the reliability of these cars, and they continued in revenue service throughout the 70's alongside the newly-delivered DCM and DCTs. They were electrically incompatible with the new cars, and so could not form consists with them.

On a side note, the new DC series of cars featured many differences and changes to the original design. The most important was the change in electrical equipment, but many other improvements were made. As a result of these changes, newer, stronger air conditioning units were fitted. Other changes included the removal of indented head lights which were protected by a piece of glass, and the installation of a guard's door on driving trailers. Prior to this, drivers had to exit the cab through the vestibule. These new cars were also the first to feature vacuum retention toilets, hence the V designation.

However, in the 80's with the arrival of the DIM motor cars, there was a surplus of motor cars, and the decision was made to convert the 15 remaining 'Blue Goose' cars (as they were now known) into trailers, therefore solving the reliability problems, and making them interoperable with the 'V' sets.

The cars were withdrawn from service in 1981, and were converted at Elcar Workshops. Vacuum retention toilets were installed, and all electrical equipment removed, and the cars were rewired to make them interoperable with newer stock. Renumbering took place following the below pattern:

DCF 8001-8008 -> DMT 9201-9207
DDC 9001-9004 -> DDT 9208-9211
DTC 9011-9012 -> DFT 9212-9213
DTF 9021-9022 -> DFT 9214-9215

All motor cars were decabbed, and toilets installed where the former cabs were. Existing trailers had their toilets removed, and retention toilets installed in their place. The air-conditioning was left untouched, and were considerably weaker than the DC-series air-conditioning units. The 'Blue Goose' liveried fronts were painted grey, but 9203 and 9206 retained their liveries until they were scrapped.

The cars were returned before the year ended, and ran in revenue service as part of 4, 6, and 8 car consists with all generations of V set DDIU cars.

On an interesting note, DMT 9202 acquired a marigold-and-grey 'CityDecker' front in 1999, as a result of an accident. As there were no spare fronts for 1970's series cars, the intact half was re-moulded and when installed, was taken to the paint shop at Goninans Broadmeadow and painted in the 'CityDecker' livery along with other motor cars under refurbishment. 9202's front was unique as it was missing the holes and cover-plates for headlights and marker lights, which all cars featured when new.

In 2006, during a routine inspection, severe corrosion was discovered in the underframes of two cars. All 15 cars were withdrawn from service within weeks pending inspections of their underframes. All cars were discovered to have underframes corroded to various extents. Initially, two cars, 9203 and 9215 were cleared for operation, but later were also condemned.

The 16 cars were built with mild steel underframes, as opposed to the stainless steel underframes of the later cars. The mild steel corroded rapidly in the moist and salty environments of the Central Coast and Illawarra/South Coast.

14 of the cars were scrapped in late 2006, however, one car, DMT 9204, was set aside. It was placed into storage, and eventually found its way to Petersham Training College with DIM 8020, which had lost it's trailer as an indirect result of these scrappings.

In 2008, DMT 9204 was removed from Petersham Training College, and taken to Holsworthy Army Barracks as part of Operation Sudden Impact, which was a training session for emergency crews on bomb procedures. Having been heavily graffitied, DMT 9204 was destroyed by an explosion on the 25th of November, 2008.

No specimens of these cars have been preserved, except for a few photos of them in the 1970s, and even fewer photos in the years before their withdrawal from service.

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42101 · Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 10:50 pm

Goninan BlOOd Thats a damn fine piece of writing mate thanks for that informative and acurate history of these cars. Very Happy

Its damn nice to see a young bloke doing hard work like this instead of the usual foaming posts we normaly get on Sparks. Very Happy

Thanks heaps to ALL my friends on here and to the idiots who dislike me BITE ME.

Founding Member 0002 of the Secret Gunzel Inner Circle since 2009. But SHHH, it's a secret!

GeoffreyHansen · Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:05 pm

A very interesting article goninan_bl00d! It would have been nice to see a car preserved with the blue seats for first class.

TheLoadedDog · Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:29 am

Arise Sir BlOOd.

Very nice post. Very nice indeed.

It brings back memories for me too. In the internet era, the V sets are much beloved of railfans. THey get called things like "the last REAL trains", or maybe "the NSWGR's last great hurrah". And (now) I too like V sets, and agree with this.

But I remember my dad's commuting days in the 70s. These were also my own childhood formative gunzel days. Being as objective as possible, I'll give you our recollections, for what they're worth:

Dad:
HATED these new "Blue Goose" trains. They "weren't real trains" and you "can't hear the clickety-clack in the carriages". (opinion). "They break down all the time" (fact, according to the OP).

LIKED U Boats.

LOVED supplementary steam era car "2712" with his own favourite seat, hauled by a 46cl in a ten-car consist known by the commuters as "the eighty wheeler".

As for me, I:

HATED the "Blue Goose" cars.

DISLIKED the HUB sets (I didn't know their history and thought them sterile and modern - fer feck's sake, I was eight)

LOVED the U Boats.

ABSOLUTELY ADORED the side corridor stock that was still getting about behind a 46.

I'd give my left nut to ride in a HUB now. Strange, the [KENNETH SLESSOR] bumpkin calculus of time [/KENNETH SLESSOR].

Hmm.

Sir Thomas Bent · Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:45 am

What they said, with one caveat.

goninan_bl00d · Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:30 pm

Goose · Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:34 pm

Congratulations on a well written artice!

However there are a few small technical errors.

They had 415v 3 phase motor alternators.
The motor alternators did not have a circuit breaker, but were protected by a very expensive fuse located under the number one end.
The compressors were 415v 3 phase.

A lot of the problems were caused by water leaks shorting out the electrics.

The camshaft was air driven, unlike all other electric stock which has a pilot motor.

The F111 target was put on at Flemington Car Sheds by one of the trade staff as a joke as to the reliability of the Blue Goose.

goninan_bl00d · Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:52 am

@Goose, I got the bit about 120V from M636C.

Goose · Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:22 pm

It's easy to tell as they have 415v jumpers, the same as all of the V, K, and C sets. All air conditioned electric trains have 415v. To put air conditioning in the S/R set cabs they had to replace the 120v supply set for a 3 phase 415v auxillary power supply unit.

Have a look at some old photos and you will see two jumpers at the front. One for the 120v control power (42 pin) and a 3 phase (4 pin) one.

goninan_bl00d · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 10:46 pm

Hence explaining why K and C sets have two sets of jumper cables, only one of which is used when forming an Esky.

Article changed to reflect this information.

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