632 - HCX class guard’s composite

HCX class guard’s composite

Built: 1914

Builder: Ritchie Brothers, Auburn

Current status: Static display

HCX 632 is the odd-one-out in the museum’s carriage fleet, as the only example of a passenger car without a corridor connector or end platform. Each compartment is entirely self-contained, with doors on either side. This design of carriage, colloquially known as ‘Dogboxes’ due to their resemblance to the starting boxes of greyhound races, was common in the early days of rail travel, but fell out of fashion due to how inconvenient they were for train conductors, and the safety risk to passengers should their means of exit be blocked. 632 would have been one of the last of this type to appear in NSW, but they weren’t replaced outright until the introduction of the FS-type cars in the 1930s.

The carriage was built by Ritchie Brothers, a small manufacturing company specialising in carriages and trams. Based in Auburn in central Sydney, the company ran from 1857 to 1950. As built, 632 was a CX first and second class car, with three compartments for each. The CX’s were notable as the first carriages to provide on-board toilets for second class; previously, second class passengers would have to wait for a station, and hope there wasn’t a queue!

In the 1960s, 632 had three compartments rebuilt into space for luggage and a guard, to be used on mixed-traffic country trains. It was relocated to Goulburn, and was a regular sight on trains to Canberra. Upon withdrawal, it was purchased by Canberra Railway Museum and used on heritage trains. Since preservation, it has even made a few appearances in film - first in 1973 in the TV miniseries ‘Seven Little Australians’, and then in 1987 in the film ‘The Year my Voice Broke’, which was filmed at Bungendore station.