page_title: Victorian Railways fixed wheel passenger carriages
section_title: Guard's Vans
hierarchical_section_title: Victorian Railways fixed wheel passenger carriages / Guard's Vans
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Victorian Railways Z van, coded ZD 611. In storage at the w:Seymour Railway Heritage Centre
context_page_description: The first passenger carriages of the Victorian Railways were fixed-wheel, with a mixture of first- and second-class bodies on either four- or six-wheeled underframes. They were built to the British side-loading, swing-door, cross bench compartment style; later a saloon style was used to a limited extent, featuring fewer doors per side and perimeter seating - which increased total capacity by allowing more standing passengers.
  Initial designs had some common themes: A and B type carriages were for first- and second-class travellers; C indicated third-class initially, though later was re-allocated for flat wagons to transport horse-drawn carriages, and later still for hearse vans; D was used for guards' vans, E for mail vans, and F for horse boxes. The first vehicles were built on four-wheeled underframes, with some later designs being built on six-wheel underframes. Some cars were built locally, while others were imported. Between 1860 and 1880 the Victorian Railways took-over a number of private railway operators, and their rollingstock was absorbed into the VR fleet, being renumbered to suit.
context_section_description: These fixed-wheeled vehicles were the primary group of guard's vans built for the Victorian Railways. They were built nearly continuously, from 1858 to 1891. The code 'D' was applied on a van, as late as 1907.
  These vans were attached at the rear of trains. As there was no continuous brake, the guard at the rear assisted stopping by using the handbrake.
  When construction of the 'D' vans stopped, the number group was from 1 D to 265 D. However, there had been far more vans that this actually built, because many of the earlier vans had been scrapped and replaced by new vans which took the same numbers. Eventually around 750 vans were constructed (not counting duplicates); and from 1888 bogie vehicles were constructed with a central cupola and two ends matching the D type design; these vans were called the Dᴰ class, later C class.
  In the 1890s some vans were rebuilt from four to six wheels.
caption: Van 611 ZD, in storage at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre
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