......no doubt people will have have memories of the jumbos and preserving some of each type of rail car is what a rail museum is for......The jumbos hold history ......and at least one set should be preserved.
I remember a Jumbo set being put on display at Spencer Street as an example of the then Labor Federal Government's plan to refurbish the railways throughout Australia. It ran from Adelaide to Melbourne under its own power and could have achieved high speeds on parts of the long run involved.
The concept was that to achieve economies of scale and the considerable saving of available funds that this would entail, a standard suburban design should be built which could be adapted to the various rail and loading gauges as well as a choice of motive power at a time when only the Melbourne and Sydney suburban systems were electrified.
In their time they were by far the most modern and comfortable cars in the country, and I still prefer riding in near silence in the front seat of a Jumbo driving trailer to any other.
The triplication of the Frankston and Dandenong lines to allow bi-directional running and overtaking was part of the same scheme. Though the state Liberal government was quick to take credit, the triplications stopped abruptly as soon as the allocated money ran out after the dismissal of the Federal government and didn't resume for many years. The sensible approach to building world class trains in Australia (and they were just that at the time) went the same way.
These cars are an important part of the Nation's (not just South Australian) history, and another example of the lost opportunities and deliberate neglect that have put us decades behind the modern railway practices of many countries which we like to think are comparable with us.
A fraction of the money that has been spent on subsidising the road transport industry competition would have made a great deal of difference, but ideologies will need to change if we are ever to catch up on some of the backlog. I don't expect ever to see that happen.