RCMF Coiled Steel Wagon

Newly converted NCMY 20530V at Bathurst in the early 90s. David Willoughby

These were a late conversion by the SRA and as such appear to have been painted in the FreightRail blue livery before the logo change was adopted. Photos indicate the conversion was done at Bathurst Wagon Workshops around 1990. They were designed to supplement the NCMY fleet of medium coiled steel plate carriers and were originally coded in the same class. At some stage, they were rebogied with 70t Barber S2 bogies and recoded RCMF, by the then NRC.

The wagon was fitted with a longitudinal steel frame for holding coils. The frame had 3 channels: the two outer channels carried smaller 620-1000mm diameter coils, whilst the middle channel carried a single row of 950-1200mm diameter coils.

Date Introduced: Early 1990’s.

Running Numbers:

Number	Conv From	Conv To
20330	BCY	RCAF
20387	BCY	RKMX
20415	BDY	RKMX
20456	BDY	RKMX
20530	CCY	RKMX
20567	CCY	RKMX

Length: 15.1 Tare: 22t Capacity: 70t Gross: 92t Equiv Length: 2.2

Bogies: Originally 2CM/XCM, later 70t Barber S2

Coding:

- Initially NCMY, later NCMX

- Recoded RCMF by NRC.

Colour Scheme:

- Only ever carried FreightRail blue with grey bogies and white steps/handrails.

Further Modifications: converted into RKLY / RKMX wagons in the early 00’s by NRC.

Similar Vehicles: Initially grouped with NCMY wagons.

Period of Service: 1990 – 2003.

Operation:

They carried coiled steel plate from Pt Kembla Steelworks to Morandoo, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth.

Modelling: PLAN

- No model has ever been produced, but a BDY/NODY underframe would be a good starting point.

RCMFs stored for conversion to RKLY/RKMXs. Mallee Route Media

RCMF 20456 in storage at Pt Kembla in the early 00’s, awaiting conversion to

RKLY/RKMX. Steve Pracy