Builder: Ben Nguyen
Region: Asia & Australasia
Category entered:
Year entered: 2023
Brand of building bricks used:
LEGO
Since 2026, the Brick Train Awards have accepted models created with other LEGO®-compatible construction brick systems.
About Victorian Railways & SAR (South Australian Railways) Overland Club Car No.1 by Ben Nguyen
As part of a post war project and to modernise The Overland, (an overnight passenger train between Melbourne and Adelaide), a programme to replace the aging wooden bodied rolling stock commenced in the mid 1940’s. The new corten steel cars were built with air conditioning and finished in maroon with fluted stainless steel panels on each side and a black roof.
The cars were all jointly owned by the S.A.R. and the VR, all were built at SAR's Islington Workshops. The first carriage, Allambi, entered service in 1949. A total of 44 carriages were built for The Overland from 1949 to 1972 (four sleepers were purchased by the Victorian railways in 1972). Cars built prior to 1955 had SAR style bogies, from 1955 all cars were built, or retrofitted, with Bradford Kendall style bogies. Early cars were built with skirting, it is not known when this was removed.
All of these cars were named aboriginal words which were commonly associated with 'sleep'. These carriages ran the nightly service hence the large amount of sleeping cars on the train.