Australian Railway Historical Society (ACT Division)

First Class Sitting Car 7 VFW

7 VFW is a first class sitting car formerly used by the Victorian Railways, and is the only item of Society rolling stock sporting the old Victorian blue and gold colour scheme. This mainline passenger car was built at Newport Workshops in Melbourne in 1926 and was acquired by the Society in 1983. Originally she was coded 66 AW, and was a first class car running on broad gauge services, providing seats for 56 passengers in seven compartments. Cars in this batch of nine were the only Victorian Railway first class cars to accommodate 8 passengers per compartment - six seats was the usual number. This batch of cars also had strengthened underframes in preparation for conversion to automatic couplers. During 1937-38, this car was reclassified to second class and numbered 77 BW. In November 1972, it was transferred to standard gauge wheelsets (with nine other cars), for use on second divisions of the Spirit of Progress between Melbourne and Sydney in busy periods. For this purpose it was recoded to 7 VFW. At times when insufficient NSW cars were available, it was borrowed by the NSW Railways for operation on main southern line trains, especially to Moss Vale but also further south to Junee and Albury. Its service continued right up to its sale to the ARHS in 1983. After arrival in Canberra, 7 VFW was in service for the ARHS between 1983 and 1990. 7 VFW then became a static exhibit at Canberra Railway Museum until April 2004 when she was transferred to Junee. A restoration plan has been developed, and some work has now been carried out on this car and it remains on public view, at the Junee Roundhouse.

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