Australian Railway Historical Society (ACT Division)

TAM Class Sleeping Cars

TAM 906, 1884, 1888

TAM non-air-conditioned sleeping cars are twelve-wheel sleeping cars built for the New South Wales Railways in the 1920s. The Society owns three of these wooden-bodied, steel-underframed sleeping cars - TAM 906, 1884 and 1888. They are superbly panelled internally in cedar, with pressed metal corridor ceilings. Each car has 20 berths, arranged in ten two-berth compartments which are fitted with a wash basin, table and individual cupboards for overnight travel. The berths convert to comfortable seats for daytime travel. There is a toilet at each end of the cars. TAM 906 has been returned to service, and restoration work continues on TAM 1888. The Society uses TAM 1884 as an exhibit at Canberra Railway Museum. TAM 906 entered railway service in 1926, later had steam heating installed, and was used for several years on the North Coast Mail. TAM 1884 was built by Meadowbank Engineering in 1929. It became a staff car on an ambulance train in 1942 but was refurbished the following year for a return to normal service in mid-1946. After retirement in early 1986, it was acquired by the Society in 1985-86. Its first trip was with the final Cooma Mail ex-Queanbeyan, on 31 May 1986. TAM 1888 was built in 1929 and purchased by the Society in 1986. It was coded XAM by the NSW Railways to indicate the installation of electric heating (in 1962) for use during winter on the Cooma Mail. This car remained in service until a few days before NSW mail trains ceased operations in November 1988.

Click on picture for larger image; use your 'Back' button to return to this page    TAM sleeping car interior    TAM 906, built in 1926    TAM 1884, built in 1929    TAM 1888, built in 1929

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