In 1974 the Joint Railway
Commissioners lead by Mr Philip Shirley of the PTC of NSW, introduced
the Railways of Australia Container Express concept.
With 500 GC containers and 500 VC
containers ordered from Freighter Industries Ltd this was the largest
order to be placed and these containers were suitable for all types of
containerised traffic. The ventilated VC container was particularly
suitable for Tropical Fruit traffic from Far North Queensland to the
southern markets in Sydney and Melbourne.
Later
in 1982 VR introduced 80 VGC containers to supplement the Interstate
pool these containers were also constructed by Freighter Industries Ltd
however to a slightly different design.
The L and D
versions were built as a trial prior to ordering the GC and VC types.
They later found usage as ICI Explosives containers for traffic around
Southern NSW and into Victoria.
The NGA and NGB were later iterations of
RACE containers and operated under the new Trackfast brand. Later the
NGB version became ERB coded with Superpak brand.
The MSL is the NSW version of a gated
curtainside container, the VSL is the Victorian version, each version
has unique end detail.
Later the MSL
versions became ERM coded under the Superpak brand.
The SRA branded
containers were synonymous with the NSW Speed- freight services operated
in the 1990s.
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