The New South Wales Tulloch suburban carriage stock are a type of electric multiple unit operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and its successors between 1940 and 1993, serving the Sydney suburban network. In their later years, they, along with the Standard and W set trains, were nicknamed "Red Rattlers". The term was borrowed from Melbourne, originally referencing the Tait trains.
In 1940, 24 first series power cars and 24 trailer cars were built by Tulloch Limited for the New South Wales Government Railways.
They were built as a response to help run the newly electrified East Hills line and the opening of the Cronulla line in 1939. Due to the higher passenger loads and further lines having been opened, the operating suburban trains proved to be insufficient for the network and so more trains had to be commissioned.
The next batch were not built for another 11 years due to a shortage in steel following World War II. In 1951, a further three first series power cars were delivered, followed between May 1952 and March 1956 by 47 second series power cars, Between July 1950 and October 1957, 105 trailer cars were built. They operated in sets with the 1920s built steel carriages along with the timber carriages built earlier the same decade across the Sydney suburban network.
These carriages would use the same targeting system as the previously built suburban carriages. All Standard, Bradfield and Tulloch cars were allocated to the depots at Hornsby, Mortdale, Punchbowl, and Flemington.
When the first Tulloch double deck carriages were built in 1964, the plan was to only put them in the Comeng single deck sets since the power cars had more tractive capability. However, the Tulloch power cars proved that they, the Standard, and even the Bradfield motor cars could handle pulling them, and so 80 were put into single deck sets with manual doors which included the Tulloch motor cars. The Comeng trailers were shuffled into the manual door sets after having their power operated door equipment removed.
Between 1968 and 1975, 52 power cars were fitted with two motor air suspended bogies. These were C3453, C3457, C3459, C3465, C3474-C3477, C3480-C3518 and C3522-C3526 with all having their numbers increased by 4000. ÃÂ
Originally painted Tuscan red, from 1973 they were repainted in the Public Transport Commission blue and white livery before the livery was changed to Indian red in 1976. The interiors were painted in two-tone green, but not all cars were repainted.
Overhauls of the stock continued up until 1988, with some receiving sliding aluminium Beclawat windows to alleviate rust problems. Withdrawals commenced in the 1980s, with 94 remained in service with CityRail in July 1991. Some Tulloch cars were put on the two sets of three car Y sets that worked on the line between Clyde and Carlingford.
In March 1991, carriages C7491, T4603, T4662 and C3468 on set "H22" were repainted in different animal themed liveries to advertise Toronga Zoo, with C7491 repainted as 'The Fish', T4603 as 'The Leopard', T4662 as 'The Bird', and C3468 as 'The Snake'. This set was dubbed the "Zoo Train". The final passenger service with Tulloch motor carriages was with four car Mortdale set "M40" (C7465, T4834, T4900 and C7512) on the Carlingford line which ran 22 January, 1993.
These cars would be disposed of at various places along with other single deck suburban cars throughout the 1990s. Several have been preserved.
By the 1930s, Australia had plenty of experience in steel carriage building with the construction of many suburban cars built between 1926 and 1937 by both Walsh Island Dockyard and Clyde Engineering and so it was decided that the next suburban trains would built locally.
Similarly to the standard stock built in the mid-1920s and late 1930s, the Tullochs were built using riveting to hold the car body together. These cars also differed from the 1920s built carriages in having a pillar between the doors to increase passenger circulation space.
This feature would also be included in the suburban single deck cars built by Commonwealth Engineering later in the same decade as the last of the Tulloch built cars.
In addition to the spacing out of the passenger doors, a crew compartment door was installed on both sides of the power car, while the standard carriages were originally built with only one on the left-hand side. The second batch of motor cars onward featured an enlarged guard's compartment.
These cars also featured longitudinal seating in the vestibules, which some of the standard cars were fitted with at a later date during refurbishment. Most of the power cars were fitted with sun shades above the driver and guard's windows.
The Tulloch carriages were very similar to the previously built suburban cars aside from this aforementioned pillar and extra crew compartment door.
By 1957, 203 new carriages had been built.
These also had a row of large ventilators on the roof, as there were not many ways to keep the carriages cool in hot weather. This design choice would be used for all future single deck trains, both suburban and interurban. Like the previously built standard suburban carriages and wooden stock, the Tulloch carriages were supplied with tractive equipment from Metropolitan-Vickers with two motors placed on the bogie below the pantograph.
Because of the doors being manually operated, passengers often would leave the doors open on warm days to make up for the lack of proper air conditioning.
While several carriages were broken up for scrap, some carriages remain preserved. A few of these remain part of the heritage fleets of the heritage organisations of New South Wales. At least eight remain in their original state.
None of the 3000 series power cars survive. Historic Electric Traction retains two carriages that were transferred from Punchbowl shed to Redfern in 1994 with 7000 series standard car C7396 and heritage W set W3.These cars are planned for restoration to traffic. One of these is 7000 series motor car C7485 and trailer T4554.
The former was repainted in the Public Transport Commission blue and white livery by HET painters in 2001 as a way to cover up graffiti, while the latter currently remains in a grey undercoat.
The Sydney Electric Train Society has four 7000 series motor cars C7489, C7510, C7512, and C7513. These carriages were purchased off of RailCorp between 9th September 1998 and 11th November 1999.
These carriages were stored at a siding in Meeks Road with W set motor cars C3714 and C3725 that were acquired in November 1998. All carriages were planned for restoration to operational status, but they were constantly damaged by long term exposure to the elements and excessive vandalism. This made restoration of any of these carriages an impossible task that SETS would end up giving up on. Eventually, most of these carriages were later transferred to Chullora where they have remained since.
While not as old as the standard carriages that had been built only a few years before, it is more then likely that they will be restricted in their maximum speed due to the width of the cars if any cars are to run on the mainline. No carriages are on display.
On 24th November, 1998, two carriages where purchased by members of the Sydney Electric Trains Society for private ownership. A fair portion of the other remaining cars were converted into alternatives for housing and other structures.