KLV/KLY Louvred Van

KLY 18644 at Albury in November 1978. Rob O’Reagan

The ‘high cube’ vans were designed to carry palletised loads, loaded with forklift trucks. They feature external body bracing and outside-hung double sliding doors in the middle of each side. The first 50 only had louvers at the top and bottom of the side panels, whereas the remaining vans had fully louvred panels. They were designed to operate at express goods train speeds up to 115km/h.

Builders:

Commonwealth Engineering built 200 vans in 2 contracts -

- 50 were built in the 1^st batch, delivered in 1973 and numbered 18601–18650.

- 150 were built in the 2^nd batch, delivered between 1975-76 and numbered 18551–18600 & 1865 –18750.

Length: 18.2m Tare: 27t Capacity: 44t Gross: 69t

Bogies: KLV – 2CG, KLY – 2CM

Coding:

- As introduced, the 1^st batch were coded KLV, the 2^nd batch coded KLY.

- In 1974-75, most KLV’s were fitted with 2CM bogies and recoded KLY.

- In 1980, the 15 vans coded KLV were recoded NLKF, and the KLY’s were recoded NLKY.

- Vans coded NLUY/NLWY were used on Uncle Ben’s Pet food traffic from Raglan to ?

- Vans coded NLDY/NLNY were converted for newsprint paper traffic. Their interiors were lined with plywood.

- All vans were transferred to NRC in 1994-95 and their first letter was changed to ‘R’.

- Some NLUY/RLUY vans, were recoded RLSY for ‘Sadleirs Transport’ duties after the Uncle Ben’s traffic finished.

Colour Scheme:

- As introduced, all vans were painted PTC Blue on the body and bogies. They featured the red ‘worm’ logo and white lettering.

- Some vans were repainted into the SRA red livery as they were overhauled in the mid-1980’s.

- 12 vans have received the ‘Sadleirs Transport’ company livery of lime green and yellow. The vans repainted are in dedicated ‘Sadleirs’ traffic. Numbers of vans in this livery are 18645D, 18648H, 18657G, 18662P, 18665T, 18668A, 18670F, 18673J, 18680N, 18686V, 18746C, 18749.

- In late 2005, some vans were painted PN Blue with PN logo on the side.

Further Modifications:

Most modifications carried out on these vans were internal changes to suit customer needs and are not visible from the outside.

Operation:

Originally intended for fast general goods traffic. These vans were used in the movement of Uncle Ben’s/PAL dog food from Raglan to Sydney. Sadliers Transport use a number of these vans and can be seen at their yard at Enfield South

Modelling:

- Rails North produced kits for both batch of vans, but they are no longer available.

- Ian Lindsay Models have a HO scale kit of the 1^st batch, but is currently unavailable.

- Auscision Models plan to produce a RTR model of the 2^nd batch of vans in HO scale.

RLSY 18606 (1^st Batch) in faded PTC Blue at Pt Augusta.

NLKY (1^st batch) in faded SRA red.

RLPY 18687V (2^nd batch) in a weathered PTC Blue. Note the fully louvred side panels.

RLPY 18730R (2^nd batch) in weathered SRA red livery

RLUY 18749 in freshly painted ‘Sadleirs Transport’ livery, Parkes May 1997. Roger Jones photo.