FP-11 returns to service

nswtd · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 7:59 pm

On Saturday 4th September ARHS ACT trialled rail paybus FP-11 from Canberra to Royalla and return, the trial was successful and it will be entering service as a perway maintenance vehicle for carrying crews and equipment.

bevans · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:10 pm

Australind · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 10:27 pm

What is a ACT trialled rail paybus?

ravenoak · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 8:48 am

I think the paybus was an old (Leyland??) bus that ran on the lines delivering pay to the workers up until the mid 70's.

They were then used for some general transport duties and as far as I can recall they were even used to transport passengers from Bombala back to Cooma to meet up with the Cooma-Monaro express in the last days of the line.

Seeing the paybus on the line out to Royalla should bring back some memories for some people!

DavidB · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:51 am

nswtd · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:34 am

The FP 7-13 series has a Leyland 400 engine and Voith 501 Transmission - built by Comeng and entered service in 1968. They are air-conditioned.

FP13 was fitted out as a passenger vehicle for the Cooma-Bombala run but seized an engine in the 70's and was stored until 1980 when it was converted to a paybus. It also has a different suspension arrangement to provide better ride quality.

They lasted in service until the 1980's FP-11 last ran in April 1986, its last week was spent going Clyde-Goulburn-Junee-Harden-Clyde-Acdep. It is also no stranger to the line to Royalla as it often ran to Cooma, the last Cooma trip being in March 1986.

Gavin · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:12 pm

I was wondering why the paybus was sitting on 1 road, in front of the CPH yesterday morning. Now I know why.

Gavin Woolf

DavidB · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:19 pm

Could it be used for public rides within the yard? Should be a bit cheaper to run than a CPH.

As a metter of interest, is it considered to be a railcar or a track machine?

Cheers
David

bevans · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:04 pm

nswtd · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:53 pm

It currently is not certified to carry passengers - but it is hoped that with a few modifications this could be achieved.

It weighs about 12 tonnes so it is quite a light vehicle.

Australind · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:42 pm

A bus on rails, well jow I have seen everything lol

DavidB · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:19 am

Australind · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:22 pm

Oh well, thats a really old photo, I didnt know they had a ACT trialled rail paybus. You learn new things everyday.

Electra · Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:56 am

David Cooke's book "Railmotors to XPTs" (ARHS, Sydney, 1984) tells their story, together with their rather quaint predecessors from which we NSWGR employees used to get paid each fortnight. At one stage, car 13 was coded SP to indicate its passenger accommodation.

On double tracked lines fitted with track block and automatic signalling, the older rail paybuses were passed from signal box to signal box under manual block conditions because they used to play hell with the track circuits, "bouncing on and off the screen" on the consoles. This meant that if a station had control over its local signals, those signals were switched to red as soon as the paybus passed, and until the vehicle arrived at the next controlling station down the line.

BTW - Anyone remember the other road-rail bus AXT895?

Electra · Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 2:13 am

To avoid confusion, I should have said that whereas the rail pay buses were limited to "on-track" operations, AXT895 was a dual mode vehicle with its own in-built turntable to transfer from rail to road and vice-versa. It must have been the most useless vehicle ever to grace NSW tracks; or roads, for that matter - if its road performance climbing the Great Western Highway on one occasion was correctly reported!