The New South Wales Tulloch double deck carriage stock was a class of electric multiple unit (EMU) carriages operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors between 1964 and 2004.
In 1966, tenders were called for double deck power car prototypes. Tulloch would respond with four power cars two years later that were numbered C3801 - C3804. These power cars alongside trailer cars T4839, T4840, T4843, and T4844 were combined into an eight car set that was targeted S10 as the Comeng single deck stock had been designated S1-S9 years earlier. The train that entered service in 1969 broke down regularly which was worsened by all four power cars having electrical systems coming from different manufacturers.[2]
Despite these problems, the train was considered successful enough that all trains built following it would be of double deck construction.[3]
To operate with the four experimental double deck power cars, in 1968 a further two were converted for powered door operation. Further carriages were converted to power door operation in 1972/73 to operate with the Series 1 S set carriages (C3805-C3857). After the conversions were completed, T4801-T4833 formed part of the Sputnik sets, T4839-T4895 were part of the S sets and T4834-T4838 and T4896-T4920 were operated in manual door form with Suburban and Tulloch stock.[1][4]
Two of the experimental power cars were converted into trailer cars. These were C3801 which became T4797 and C3803 which was converted into T4799. C3802 was planned to be converted into trailer car T4798 but the process was never finished and instead the power car was scrapped at the Elcar works where the conversion was planned. As for the other converted power cars, T4797 was cut up in 1991 while T4799 remains preserved in storage.[3] C3804 was transferred to the NSW rail museum at Thirlmere where the car resides as part of an interactive exhibit set along with Standard suburban carriage T4310 and Bradfield motor carriage C3045.
Originally painted Tuscan red, from 1973 they were repainted in the Public Transport Commission blue and white livery before the livery was changed to Indian red in 1976. In order to create a consistency with the stainless steel carriages they operated with, T4852 and T4867 were repainted in an experimental silver livery. After a three-year lapse, T4872 was repainted flake grey and this was gradually rolled out to those carriages in S sets with the last completed in June 1993.[5] The interiors were painted in two-tone green.[1]
Those operating in single deck sets were withdrawn in the early 1990s, while those in S sets remained in service until the end of March 2004.[6][7] Over 15 carriages remain in existence, including T4916, the only surviving manual door double deck trailer. Other surviving examples are T4801, T4814, T4816, T4820, T4828 and T4830, which were used in power door single deck sets. Carriages used in S sets include T4840, T4844, T4857, T4864, T4874, T4881 and T4799. T4801 and T4814 are preserved by Historic Electric Traction and are operational in set W3.[8]
Design
Preserved Tulloch Trailer carriage T4823 at the St Marys Diggers Club in 2025
The Tulloch carriages were only a meter shorter in length compared to the S sets that they would mix with and at the time of their release were likely the heaviest carriages in the fleet, as while the older single deck motor cars were capable enough to pull them, they would move slower and have more difficulty accelerating due to the extra weight they were taking.[9] The carriages were fitted with 40 tinted Beclawat sliding windows with the windows in the lower deck being slightly larger.[3] The cars had ventilators fitted to the roof to make up for the limited air-conditioning technology at the time. These were smaller then those on the single deck carriages that would haul them.
Notably, they also were the first carriages not just in New south wales, but Australia as a whole to ride on airbags which improved comfort for passengers. This feature would be implemented on all future trains in Australia with the exclusion of Melbourne's X'Trapolis 100.[10] The power cars for the most part followed the same design as the trailer carriages however The roof was less rounded and had a depression on the back end to make space for the pantograph to be attached.
Headlights were placed above the gangway door on the front of the carriage with additional lights next to the windows at the front that would be used on future rolling stock and had been on previously built stock alike. A shade was placed over the driver's window. The Tulloch power cars were the last carriages in new south wales to receive this attribute. The set S10 that was lead by power car C3804 gained the nickname "The Flying Nun" by the rail circles as a result of the shape of the roof of the power cars.[11] All cars were built with vent slits in the doors and round vents in the walls. Power Carriage C3801 would received its electric equipment from Japanese electrical engineering company, Mitsubishi which would later provide tractive power for all four doubledecksilversets and the Tangara T sets that were introduced after the Tulloch Power cars were built.
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