Railways and Tramways of Australia

Railcar trial

 

A trial of a McKeen railcar ran in Brisbane on 3 July 1913.

 

The McKeen Motor Car of Omaha in the United States built five railcars for the Queensland Railways. They followed two that entered service with Victorian Railways in 1912.

 

Queensland’s McKeen cars were similar to those in Victoria, although their length of 59 feet (18 metres) was shorter by seven feet than the Victorian cars. They featured a steel car body, rounded front end and porthole windows on the side. A petrol engine provided 200 horsepower (149 kW) and there was seating for 68 passengers.

 

For its first trial McKeen car no. 1 departed from Ipswich Workshops, where it had been assembled, before proceeding to Ipswich station. It made a successful run to Corinda and return, attracting considerable public interest. Further trials took place before McKeen car no. 1 entered service between South Brisbane and Sunnybank on 8 September. All five cars were operating on Brisbane suburban routes by the end of the year.

 

It had been intended that the McKeen cars would provide economical service. However, they proved to be high in fuel consumption. It was judged that they were more expensive to operate than steam-hauled trains.

 

Following numerous failures, the McKeen cars were withdrawn from operation within three years. Cars 2 and 5 were converted to ‘Tourist Cars’ in 1915. This involved replacing the regular seats with settees, lounge chairs, tables, an ice chest, lockers and a lavatory. All five cars were subsequently used for special excursion trips to various locations within South East Queensland. Excursions continued infrequently during the 1920s. They had all been written off before the end of 1931 and were subsequently scrapped.

 

The promising first trial of McKeen car no. 1 was not followed by success in regular service.

 

Bibliography

J Knowles, ‘The McKeen cars of Queensland’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 780, October 2002, pp 363–71.

P Hanlon & B Webber, Rail motors, railcars, EMUs and tilt trains of Queensland, Australian Railway Historical Society (Queensland Division), Brisbane, 2011.

‘M’Keen auto-car: trial run yesterday’, Queensland Times, 4 July 1913, p 14.