Commonwealth Engineering

CountryLink XPT in February 2011
Industry	Engineering
Founded	1921
Defunct	1990
Headquarters	Granville
Number of locations	Dandenong Rocklea Bassendean
Products	Railway rolling stock
Parent	Australian National Industries

Commonwealth Engineering was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams.

History

Preserved former Sydney Albion Venturer in Glasgow in October 2009

Preserved Mount Newman Mining MLW M636 diesel locomotive in April 2012

FreightCorp 8606 at Junee Roundhouse Railway Museum in March 2011

TransAdelaide 2000 class railcar at Woodlands Park in April 2007

Westrail's The Australind at Claisebrook in April 2002

CityRail V set at Central in December 2007

Connex Melbourne Comeng in December 2005

CountryLink RUB carriage at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot in December 2012

Z class Melbourne tram 168 at Preston Workshops in August 2007

Hong Kong Light Rail Phase I LRV in February 2009

Commonwealth Engineering was founded in 1921 as Smith & Waddington, in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown building bodies for motorcars and buses.^[1] It was reformed after the Depression as Waddingtons Body Works and moved to Granville. The Government of Australia took control of the company during World War II to produce materials in the Granville factory. The government purchased a controlling stake in the company in 1946 and changed the name to Commonwealth Engineering.

In 1949 a factory was established in Rocklea, Queensland. This was followed in 1952 a plant in Bassendean, Western Australia and in 1954 by another in Dandenong, Victoria. In June 1957, the government sold its shares. In November 1982 Comeng was taken over by Australian National Industries.

The Granville factory closed in 1989 and has been demolished. The site, which sat between the Great Western Highway and Main Western railway line west of Duck River, has been replaced with new developments that include high rise housing and light industry.

The Dandenong plant was sold in 1990 to ABB Transportation and is now operated by Bombardier Transportation while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co.

The history of Comeng has been published by John Dunn:

• Volume 1, 1921 – 1955 published in 2006^[2]
• Volume 2, 1955 – 1966 published in 2008^[3]
• Volume 3, 1967 – 1977 published in 2010^[4]
• Volume 4, 1977 – 1985 published in 2013^[5]
• Volume 5, 1985 – 1990 published posthumously in November 2013^[6][7]

Products

Commonwealth Engineering's products included:

Buses

Australian Capital Territory

• 60 Canberra Bus Service AEC Reliance 470s
• 30 Canberra Bus Service AEC Swift 505s

New South Wales

• 50 Leyland OPSU1/1s
• 50 AEC Regal IVs

Victoria

• 50 AEC Regal IIIs

Western Australia

• Leyland OPSU1/1s

Diesel locomotives

New South Wales

• 8 BHP Port Kembla D1 class diesel locomotives
• 6 442 class diesel locomotives
• 10 70 class diesel hydraulic locomotives
• 50 80 class diesel electric locomotives
• 15 XPT power cars

Western Australia

• 11 Westrail N class diesel locomotives
• Alco 636 M636 diesel locomotives for Hamersley Iron
• 21 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Mount Newman Mining
• 12 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Robe River Mining

Electric locomotives

New South Wales

• 10 85 class electric locomotive
• 50 86 class electric locomotive

Diesel multiple units

New South Wales

• 5 1100 class Budd railcars

Queensland

• 24 1800 class railcars
• 2 1900 class railcars
• 52 2000 class railcars

South Australia

• 30 2000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars
• 20 3000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars

Western Australia

• 10 West Australian ADK diesel multiple units
• 8 West Australian Prospector diesel railcars
• 5 West Australian Australind diesel railcars

Tasmania

• 6 Tasmanian Government Railways DP class railcars

India

• Diesel railcars for Indian Railways^[8]

Electric multiple units

New South Wales

• 80 Sputnik Sydney suburban carriages
• 80 U set Intercity carriages
• 359 S set Sydney suburban carriages
• 246 V set Intercity carriages
• 11 Skitube Alpine Railway electric carriages

Victoria

• 570 Comeng Melbourne suburban carriages

Carriages

Commonwealth Railways

• 24 carbon steel carriages
• 124 stainless steel carriages

New South Wales

• 35 N type carriages
• 67 RUB carriages
• 75 stainless steel carriages
• 47 XPT carriages

Queensland

• 99 steel carriages
• 35 stainless steel carriages

Trams

New South Wales

• 155 R1 class Sydney trams

Victoria

• 230 Z class Melbourne trams
• 70 A class Melbourne trams
• 132 B class Melbourne trams

Hong Kong

• 70 MTR Phase I Light Rail Vehicles 1988

References

1. History of Prewar and War Single Deck Vehicles DGT Archives
2. Dunn, John (2006). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 1: 1921-1955. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 1877058424.
3. Dunn, John (2008). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 2: 1955-1966. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 1877058734.
4. Dunn, John (2010). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 3: 1967-1977. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781877058905.
5. Dunn, John (2013). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 4: 1977-1985. Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781922013514.
6. Dunn, John; Gutteridge, Phil (2013). Comeng: A history of Commonwealth Engineering: Volume 5: 1985-1990 (plus ABB, Adtranz and Bombardier to 2012). Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781922013521.
7. "John Dunn Obituary". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
8. The Indian Railcar Contract Adam, Eric Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, December 1989 pp285-291

External links

Media related to Commonwealth Engineering at Wikimedia Commons