A1868 1937 era 56 carriage

Information on 1937 era 56' carriage A1868.

Running number: A1868 (TMS was AS56073 and AL56095)
Designed by: New Zealand Railways
Built at: NZR Otahuhu workshops
Date built: 1937
Builders diagram:
Date entered service:
Date withdrawn: Disposed of by KiwiRail 2013
Current condition: Under going certification process for mainline running after Steam Inc overhaul.

Image: AS56073 at Taihape in 2008. Photo John Bovis

Carriage details

Weight in working order: 25 tonnes
Overall Length: 17933mm
Bogies: 25330

History

A1868 was built at the Otahuhu Workshops in 1937. Originally built as a 2^nd class car for North Island express train service and allocated to Wellington. In 1984 was reclassified as an AL car for Auckland suburban train service as AL56095. It is the oldest car in our 56' "A" car collection.

A1868 as car van AL56095.

Another pic of 1868 as AL56095 on a subbie train at Papakura. July 1986. Photoo thanks to Steven J Brown.

In 1997 was rebuilt into a servery car for use in the Auckland charter train fleet. This rebuild was performed by Babcock New Zealand at the Devonport naval dockyard. This included fitting a centrally located servery area with table seating at each end plus the fitting of HEP. Table seating is 2x1 giving a total of 24 seats at tables.

Babcock refurbishment plate

In charter fleet service the car travelled extensively on the NZ rail network.

AS56073 at Gisborne.

AS56073 at Dunedin in Oct 2006. Photos John Bovis

Its last use in KiwiRail charter service is likely to have been in 2010/2011.

It arrived at Paekakariki by rail on Sunday 30^th June 2013. On arrival was initially stored but is now fully overhauled. Our expectation is that it will be main line operational in Sept 2026. We expect to use it as a café car on our train trips in New Zealand. It will give the possibility for our travellers to sit at a table for a few minutes while they enjoy their hot drink and eats before returning to their assigned seats.

Cafe car interior