This note follows on from my letter in Australian Railway History for March 2004, in which, prompted by Andrew West, I discussed the slip carriages on the Sunlander between Rockhampton and Mackay, and mentioned the slip carriages on the "Midlander" and "Westlander". (Andrew West commented further on the subject of the footboards along the side of the slip carriage on the Sunlander in ARH January 2006. I comment on that in a separate note.)

On the QR, slip carriages were at the end of trains, and uncoupled from the trains while the trains were stationary at stations. The main train then departed leaving the slip carriage(s) at the station. No carriages at the end of trains on the QR were "slipped" in the sense that applied in the UK, ie of a trailing carriage being uncoupled by a guard aboard it, and brought to rest at a station by the guard braking it, while the train itself continued without stopping.

In some cases, the carriages slipped had a compartment for the guard and he travelled in that compartment until the trailing carriage was slipped. In others, the slipped carriage was behind the brake van.

The transfer of through carriages from one train to another amounted to slipping in only in a couple of cases, mentioned below. Otherwise such transfer required shunting the carriages. Indeed, the reverse movement of a slip as defined here amounted to transfer by attaching.

The content of this note excludes the use of Special Purpose Cars and Inspection Cars, even where they were slipped in the above sense. The Rules allowed passenger vehicles to trail the brake van of any train on special authority. Such authority was provided for carriages used on inspection by officers, and for carriages used by Ministers of the Crown or by the State Governor. On 27^th May 1957, for example, the down "Westlander" had car 490 trailing when passing Gatton, between Toowoomba and Brisbane. Car 490 was then a Special Purpose Car, used on inspections by officers.

As I said in the March 2004 letter, these trains ran as complete sets, power car in the lead to brake van in the rear. There were generally no spare air conditioned carriages to add to these sets. If extra accommodation had to be provided, a wooden bodied car on steel underframes had to be attached. Such carriages could not be coupled within the air conditioned set, for several reasons - they did not have the automatic couplings and buffing plates used within those sets, they were not wired for the 415 volts electrical system used on the air conditioned trains, and there was the potential danger of their being telescoped in an accident. The telescoping point also applied to marshalling the wooden bodied car behind the engine, in front of the set of air conditioned carriages. It was therefore necessary to attach any such carriages at the rear, behind the brake van.

Wooden bodied cars were not usually attached to the air conditioned trains when a second division of those trains made up of wooden carriages was running in any case. Rather, they were attached in those circumstances when a carriage or two would have been added to the mail train, composed entirely of wooden carriages, which the air conditioned train replaced.

This occurred between Rockhampton and Mackay on the "Sunlander". It was first allowed in WN (QR Weekly Notice) 8/54. The trailing carriage was to be a CL (composite lavatory), to have side lamps and a bracket for an end of train disc, and the intercommunication doors at the ends of the carriages were to be kept locked. During the years 1953 to 1956, the Rockhampton Mail was extended to and from Mackay, known when so extended as the Mackay Mail (see WN17/53 and WN2/56). Presumably, the slip car would have been most employed after 1956, although even between 1953 and 1956, it could have allowed passengers from Rockhampton to reach Mackay on the Sunlander, and take seats in air conditioned cars on that train vacated by passengers leaving at Mackay (and vice versa). The Mackay Mail ran during the winter months of 1956 (see WNs 15/56 and 38/56) but was not run again.

The same provision also appeared in Central Division Working Timetables (WTTs) between 1956 and 1968, ie that the CL could be attached to the air conditioned train, not to the wooden car "Sunshine Express" operating to the same timetable and with the same train numbers on days when the air conditioned "Sunlander" did not run. The car was for the accommodation of passengers travelling from Rockhampton to stations between Rockhampton and Mackay, and between intermediate places at which the train stopped. Seats could be reserved, and the surcharge for travel on air conditioned trains did not apply. With this coach, a maximum length of 15 vehicles applied in 1956, 14 in 1958, and 15 again in 1966 This provision did not appear in the 1969 WTT. From 1970 the "Sunlander" timetable was much altered, to run three days of each week to one schedule, and on two days to another.

WN26/55 said that with immediate effect, a slip car could be attached to the "Sunlander" between Mackay and Townsville for overflow passengers. WN38/56 cancelled that, however, saying that the slip carriage could be attached to the "Sunlander" between Rockhampton and Mackay, but not between Mackay and Townsville.

That was again reversed. The 1961 Northern Division WTT provided that if required for extra accommodation, and when room was available (in length and tonnage terms), the CL atttached to 241 "Sunlander" at Rockhampton on Saturdays could continue to Townsville, and return attached to the southbound "Sunlander" from Townsville on Sundays. The same provision lasted until the ND WTT of 1968, but as with the provision in the CD WTT, it was not made in the 1969 edition. As the "Sunlander" did not run through Rockhampton in either direction on Sundays in the 1961 to 1969 period, extending the running of the slip car to Townsville on Saturdays, return Sundays, meant that no additional car was needed. If, however, it happened on other days, then an extra car would have been needed.

As related in my March 2004 letter, CL cars 1289 and 1290 built for the Rockhampton Mail were used as this slip carriage in the 1950s and 1960s.

I encountered the following on trips on the "Sunlander": a BL (second lavatory) added southbound at Mackay on Friday 31^st March 1961 to give 15 vehicles, 473 tons; on Monday 3^rd April 1961, a CL added between Rockhampton and Mackay northbound to give 15 vehicles, 505 tons; on Saturday 6^th May 1961, a CL added northbound between Rockhampton and Townsville, to give 15 vehicles 512 tons as far as Mackay and 14 vehicles, 477 tons north thereof after the dining car was detached; and on Thursday 3^rd January 1963, a BL added northbound between Rockhampton and Mackay. In practice a BL was often used as the slip carriage. It is doubtful if any local passengers for stations between Rockhampton and Mackay would have wanted to travel first class, as was possible in a CL, or, if a few did, there would not have been room for them in the air conditioned first class carriages on the train.

Examples are given below of the slip carriages being brake carriages, without corridor connections to the rest of the carriages on the train, with the guard travelling in the slip carriage. The slip carriages on the "Sunlander" (and "Midlander" - see below) could have been the same. There were numerous composite lavatory brake (CLV) vehicles with at least as many seats as 1289 and 1290. This might have been a problem for the guard, however, in being unable to sort items for intermediate stations which were loaded in the brake van, while travelling in the slip car.

For the same reason 13 down "Westlander" trailed a wooden carriage with guard's compartment at busy times in the 1950s, probably attached at Roma. The guard travelled in the trailing wooden carriage. So far as I know, the trailing car was detached at Toowoomba. The train ran around the fork line junction there, and was hauled to the platform in reverse by a shunting engine, where the trailing car was detached along with the shunting engine. Presumably there was thought to be no danger of telescoping on the short distance run in reverse. A lot of passengers left the down "Westlander" at Toowoomba, and those in the slip carriage for places east of Toowoomba presumably moved to the seats thereby made empty.

I observed some variations on this arrangement. On Monday 6^th January 1958, 13 down was 14 vehicles, 10 of its normal air conditioned set, and a CLC wagon and three wooden bodied carriages, trailing the brake van of the air conditioned set, seen at Malu west of Toowoomba. On Monday 11^th August 1958, it was 13 vehicles, of which two were wooden bodied trailing the brake van of the air conditioned set, again seen at Malu. On 14^th August 1959, the train had one carriage trailing the brake van, a CLV.

I never knew of a slip carriage on the up "Westlander".

WN 25/55 allowed for a slip coach to be attached to the "Midlander", the air conditioned train on the Central Line, between Emerald and Rockhampton. No mention is made of slip coaches on this train in the 1956 Central Line WTT. The June 1958 WTT for the Central Line said (p 73) "A second class lavatory coach with side lamps and brackets for tail disc will be attached to the rear of 43 down ["Midlander", air conditioned train] from Emerald to Rockhampton Monday and Friday. The [reservation] diagram for this coach is held at Emerald…" Such carriage could of course have been one with a guard's compartment, but such was not necessary for the instruction. Cars 1289 and 1290 (under discussion in Andrew West's letter) and known to have been used between Rockhampton and Mackay were composites. They could have been used as entirely second class if used on this service. Alternatively, some other carriages might have been fitted with side lamp and tail disc brackets for this service, and to relieve 1289 and 1290 between Rockhampton and Mackay. This instruction continued in the WTT until 1969, always referring to a BL.

There was at least one BL which could have been used. End platform CL 570 (ie not a brake vehicle) had electric side lamps at each end when I photographed it in 1954, many miles away from the Central Division, and before the above provisions were made.

No provision was made in the WTT to trail a carriage on the "Midlander" in the up direction. The reason is that a passenger train followed the up "Midlander" from Rockhampton to Emerald, conveying inter alia the through carriages from Rockhampton to the Blair Athol and Springsure branches. On 3^rd January 1958, however, the up "Midlander" left Rockhampton with a BL car trailing. It was 41 minutes late. It was followed 22 minutes later by 54A Emerald passenger train, a Beyer Garratt hauling nine vehicles.

Consistent with trailing slip carriages on the "Sunlander", "Westlander" and "Midlander", the same could have happened on the "Inlander", but I have not seen mention of it in WTTs or otherwise (not that the trailing of a car on the "Westlander" was mentioned in WTTs so far as I know). There was provision for the "Inlander" to convey wagons. These were mostly marshalled between the locomotive and Power Car, the first vehicle of the air conditioned set, but in 1961 a CMIS of milk trailed the brake van.

Up passenger trains from Brisbane to Toowoomba (26, 20 and 10 up) often trailed a suburban (cross seat and side door) carriage without guard's compartment behind the brake van as far as Ipswich, for Ipswich passengers and those connecting to the branch lines from there. Indeed the 1923 WTT allowed two slip coaches on a train. The 1941 WTT provided that when it was necessary for the Ipswich slip coach on 26 up to be taken through to Toowoomba for accommodation purposes, it had to be shunted from the trailing position to the front of the train next to the engine. The slip carriage was uncoupled during the five minutes stops made by those trains at Ipswich, and presumably spragged, to be later removed by a shunting engine. Carriages were not attached at Ipswich to down country passenger trains to balance these slipped cars. . I do not know how these slipped carriages were returned to the carriage shed at Mayne in Brisbane. Presumably they were put behind the engine on one of the suburban trains from Ipswich which had Bowen Hills as their destination, which meant they ran to Mayne carriage sheds, empty from Bowen Hills. The provision last appeared in the WTTs in the early 1960s, by then limited to 26 up on Mondays and Saturdays.

In the 1950s, 6 up, Toowoomba to Roma passenger, often trailed an additional carriage with a large guard's compartment from Toowoomba to Dalby, where it was detached at the platform and removed later by the shunting engine. On its being detached, the guard applied the hand brake, and moved to the brake van, marshalled in front of the slip car. The guard's compartment in the additional carriage was loaded with parcels from Toowoomba for Dalby and the branch lines from there. During the ten minutes stop at Dalby, the platform staff dealt with parcels from Brisbane, loaded in a through Baggage Car. They dealt with the parcels in the detached carriage after the train had left. I observed 6 up being reduced at Dalby from 12 vehicles to 11, 11 to 10, 9 to 8 etc. The train often overstayed its ten minute allowance at Dalby even with this slip car, and would have done so even more without it.

Until a rail motor service was introduced on the Wandoan branch in 1954, passengers and mails on that line were conveyed by a twice weekly mixed train which connected in the up direction in the middle of the night at the junction station, Miles, with 8S up Western Mail. Briefly in 1953 and 1954, a CLV composite lavatory brake van was attached to the rear of 8S at Toowoomba, detached (slipped) at Miles and attached there to 24 up mixed for Wandoan. This presumably saved a lot of transhipment of parcels and mails at Miles. The guard travelled in the CLV as far as Miles.

For many years, the train leaving Ipswich workshops at the end of the working day divided at Ipswich into two trains, one for Grandchester to the west, and one for Brisbane and beyond. The latter was of seven cars for Brisbane, and four which were slipped from it at Bundamba (and were referred to in the WTT as slip coaches). They had their own brake carriage. The guard travelled in that brake carriage as far as Bundamba, and during the brief stop there, he moved forward to the brake compartment in the rear of the Brisbane portion. The slipped carriages were removed to a dock platform on the up side by a shunting engine.

There was a corresponding train in the up direction in the morning. In that direction, the through engine was detached at Bundamba, and drew ahead, while the shunting engine moved the four local carriages on to the front of the train from Brisbane, after which the train engine was reattached. Five minutes were allowed for these movements.

These arrangements provided for workshops employees who travelled to and from Bundamba, Booval and East Ipswich. Between Bundamba and Ipswich, the leading four carriages were brought to the platforms at Booval and East Ipswich. In the reverse direction, it was the trailing four which were brought to the platforms at those stations and Bundamba. That meant some through carriages to or from Brisbane on these eleven car trains were not at the platforms at those stations. At Ipswich, a three car portion from Rosewood was added to these eleven cars to make a train of fourteen to move to the workshops. The slipping and attaching at Bundamba ceased between 1963 and 1965.

The arrangements for running combined trains on the South Coast Line for the destinations of Southport and Tweed Heads involved slipping the latter portion of some up trains and attaching a portion to down trains, at Ernest Junction. See "But How did the Rails Come to be at the Tweed?" on the John Knowles Railway History Web Page.

The same applied to the running of combined trains from Rockhampton to Emu Park and Yeppoon, divided at Sleipner. The slipped portions were then taken on to their destination on the other line by another train. The Saturday afternoon Brisbane to Bundaberg passenger divided at Baddow, the junction for Maryborough, into portions for Maryborough and Bundaberg. The train was made up with a brake carriage in each portion.

In the 1950s and 1960s, up1800 and 2000 class railcars on the Western Line divided at Dalby to provide through services to the Glenmorgan branch, and attached the branch portion on return. The branch portion had to be turned at Dalby in each direction.

Trailers were detached from rail motors at intermediate places, and were as much slipped as carriages in the above cases. The guard or porter usually travelled in the leading trailer of two, so the trailer to be detached was trailing the guard in any case. Some Townsville to Charters Towers services detached a trailer at Haughton Valley before the climb of the Haughton Range. Some Toowoomba to Millmerran services detached a trailer at Murlaggan. Up rail motors from Brisbane to Yarraman detached a second trailer at Linville before the climb of the Blackbutt Range. These places had no shunting engine, and the detached trailer was shunted to a siding by the rail motor or manually. The same applied in reverse on the return.

It is perhaps surprising that more slipping was not performed. Before the Westlander was introduced in 1954, 8S, the up Western Mail often took an extra carriage from Toowoomba to Chinchilla for local passengers on Friday nights. Apart from the arrangement when a CLV was trailed to Miles for attaching to the Wandoan mixed there (see above), this extra carriage was attached behind the engine, the "new" engine for the Toowoomba to Roma stage going to a dock platform to attach this car before moving to Platform 1 to be attached to the train. At Chinchilla, fifteen minutes were allowed, for crew change, cleaning the fire, taking water, shovelling coal forward, and, if necessary detaching this carriage to the yard. Had the extra carriage been one with a brake compartment and trailed, however, it might have happened that there was no engine at Chinchilla to move it from the platform road. And the guard might have been deprived of the ability to sort goods in the brake van for intermediate stations.

5 August 2008, amended 31 August 2009