Sydney Electric Train Society

The Sydney Electric Train Society is a railway preservation society in Sydney, Australia. It specialises in NSW electric traction and particularly NSW electric locomotives.

Sydney Electric Train Society
Locale	Sydney
Website
www.sets.org.au

History

The Sydney Electric Train Society (SETS) was established in July 1991 with the aim of preserving Sydney's vintage electric fleet colloquially known as Red Rattler's. In January 1992, it operated its first tour with single deck stock across the CityRail suburban network, the last of which were about to be withdrawn.^[1]

By 1993, the executive of SETS had significantly changed to include more “mature” members. This went a long way to regaining some credibility with senior key players in the SRA. Through the hard work of these mature members, the manual doors impasse was settled. Tours then resumed, using trains hired from the SRA, with significant success through 1995 and 1996. A four car heritage set known as "M1" would commonly be used on such tours formed of carriages C3102, T4527, D4052, and C3218. In 1995, this set would be moved to Flemington where it would be known as "F1".^[2]

In 1997, a number of SETS members voluntarily resigned with a new board taking on the job of electric preservation. This was due to a disagreement in operations with volunteers split on a private or public ownership. The remaining members of SETS would follow the private operation of owning rolling stock whilst the members that resigned would start a new organisation Historic Electric Traction (HET) with its primary objective of SRA owning the rolling stock whilst HET would be the care takers of it; a partnership of sorts.^[2]

On 20 April 1998, SETS purchased 46 class electric locomotive 4615.^[3] Later in 1998, it purchased four Tulloch power cars from the State Rail Authority along with some U set stock.^[4] It has since expanded its collection with 85 and 86 class locomotives, one Bradfield and two Suburban power cars acquired from RailCorp and the only complete Sydney Monorail set.^[5][6][7]

SETS rolling stock has at various times been on static display at various public railway museums; Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park & Railway, the Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre and Junee Roundhouse Railway Museum. From 2003 to 2009, SETS operational electric locos and interurban cars were housed at Hornsby Maintenance Depot. In 2009, locomotives 8606 and 4615 along with CF5003 and CF5021 would be forcefully removed from Hornsby after a disagreement in storage. They would be moved by rail with a 44 class locomotive to Junee where they would be stored on display at the Junee Roundhouse.

In June 2018, 4615, 8606, CF5003 and CF5021 would be then removed from Junee due to a disagreement in storage there and would be transferred to Lithgow with 8606 returned to service to haul infrastructure trains on the Sydney Trains underground network.^[8]

Currently as of 2023, SETS has a number of its assets scattered across NSW with many items in various stages of restoration. A line up of eight red set carriages have been left at Chullora awaiting collection and moved to a secure location for future restoration. 46 class locomotives 4615 and 4627 are at Lithgow alongside U Boat carriages CF5003 and CF5021. 4615 is awaiting an ICE radio to be installed^[9], 4627 is awaiting funding for a static repaint^[10], whilst the U Boat carriages sit in the yard awaiting restoration. 8501 is presently at Werris Creek awaiting reactivation. 8606 is at Port Kembla awaiting traction motors to be refitted. 8649 is currently the only operating asset SETS has presently running rail robel runs in the city underground late at night.

SETS has also been allocated a four car S Set and four car C Set; both of which have not been signed officially over to SETS ownership and are currently sitting out the back of Auburn Maintrain. When the carriages are officially signed over to SETS, they will have 30 days to remove them from Sydney Trains land.^[11][12]

Collection

Electric locomotives

Number	Image	Year	Manufacturer	Notes
4615		1956	Metropolitan-Vickers	Purchased April 1998,^[6] at Lithgow Locomotive Maintenance Centre for re-activation as at May 2019. Still awaiting ICE radio installation as of October 2023.^[13]
4627		1957	Metropolitan-Vickers	Purchased April 2013,^[14] at Lithgow in the yard at Lithgow State Mine Railway as of October 2023. Is awaiting further donations for it to be restored to static display.
8501		1979	Commonwealth Engineering	Stored at Werris Creek,^[5]^[6] one compressor temporarily swapped with 8649. Planned to be restored to operational condition.
8606		1983	Commonwealth Engineering	Purchased February 2003,^[5]^[6] based at Enfield Yard, restored to operational condition in 2018 as a heritage loco and for Pacific National to use on Robel infrastructure trains on the Sydney Trains underground network. Currently stabled at Progress Rail Port Kembla awaiting traction motors to be refitted.^[15]
8649		1985	Commonwealth Engineering	Purchased July 2018, based at Enfield Yard, restored to operational condition in 2020-21 as a heritage loco and as a second loco for Pacific National to use on Robel infrastructure trains on the Sydney Trains underground network.^[15]On the 9th of May 2022, 8649 returned repainted in the SRA Candy livery.

Electric multiple units

Number	Image	Year	Manufacturer	Notes
C3082		1921	Ritchie Brothers	Acquired 2008. Stored indoors at Bilpin
C3104		1925	Leeds Forge Company	Acquired 2008.^[16] Stored indoors at Bilpin
C3444		1937	Clyde Engineering	Acquired 2008. Stored indoors at Bilpin
C7489		1950	Tulloch	Acquired 1998^[17] left abandoned at Chullora Industrial siding as of October 2023
C7510		1950	Tulloch	Acquired 1998^[17] sitting in a field on private property in Castlereagh as of October 2023
C7512		1950	Tulloch	Acquired 1998^[17] left abandoned at Chullora Industrial siding as of October 2023
C7513		1950	Tulloch	Acquired 1998 left abandoned at Chullora Industrial siding as of October 2023
CF5001		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 2013 moved from Rothbury to unknown location in mid 2023
CF5003		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 1998^[4] currently at Lithgow as of October 2023
CF5021		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 1998^[4] currently at Lithgow as of October 2023
CF5022		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 1998^[4]
TF6010		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 1998^[4]
ETB6037		1958	Commonwealth Engineering	Acquired 1998^[4]
C3861		1972	Commonwealth Engineering	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
T4983		1975	Commonwealth Engineering	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
T4003		1978	Commonwealth Engineering	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
C3057		1977	Commonwealth Engineering	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
C3584		1986	Goninan	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
T4266		1986	Goninan	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
T4274		1986	Goninan	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn
C3608		1986	Goninan	Under ownership of Sydney Trains at present. Stored at Auburn

Monorail

Number	Image	Year	Manufacturer	Notes
Von Roll Mk3 Set 4		1988	Von Roll Holding	Acquired 2013^[7] currently sitting in a field on private property in Castlereagh.

Tours

Tour Name	Year	Electric Train?	Other Train?	Bus?	Notes
Farewell Single Deck Red Sets	1992	Yes	No	No	SETS first official tour.
Elcar/Mortdale Visit	1992	No	No	Yes
W Set on the Illawarra	1992	Yes	No	No
Outer Western Red Revisited	1992	Yes	No	No
Elcar/Mortdale Revisit	1992	No	No	Yes
Twighlight Mystery Tour	1992	Yes	No	No
Dapto - Bondi U Boat	1993	Yes	No	No
Carlingford Inner City	1993	Yes	No	No
The First M1 Tour	1993	Yes	No	No
Zig Zag Over The Great Divide	1993	Yes	No	No
Single Deck Red Sets Return	1993	Yes	No	No
Shooting to the Loftus Tram	1993	n/a	No	n/a
The Terminating Tour	1994	Yes	No	No
The Sputniks' Send Off	1994	Yes	No	No
The Paterson Tour	1994	n/a	n/a	n/a
Half Yearly Tour Special	1994	Yes	No	No
Across the Great Divide	1994	Yes	No	No
Royal National Park Visit	1994	n/a	No	n/a
Cowan to Campbelltown	1994	Yes	No	No
Gosford to Lithgow	1995	Yes	No	No
Campbelltown Steam Museum	1995	No	No	Yes
The Paterson Tour 2	1995	Yes	Yes	No	Would be recreated in 2023 using a K Set organised by Historic Electric Traction.
Goninans Visit	1995	No	No	Yes
Illawarra Wanderer Tour	1995	n/a	n/a	n/a
Tramway Twighlight Tour	1995	n/a	No	n/a
Above The Wires Part 1	1995	n/a	n/a	n/a
Above The Wires Part 2	1996	n/a	n/a	n/a
Suburban Goose Tour	1996	Yes	No	No
Freight Rail U Boat Tour	1996	Yes	No	No
Northern Reds Tour	1996	Yes	No	No
Goninans Visit 2	1996	No	No	Yes
St James Tunnels Walking Tour	1996	No	No	No
Farewell to the U Boats	1996	Yes	No	No
Why Use The Y-Link Tour	1996	n/a	n/a	n/a
Box Vale Walking Tour	1997	No	No	Yes
K Set to Kick Off 1997	1997	Yes	No	No
The Triangle Tour	1997	n/a	n/a	n/a	The last tour ran before the infamous split of the group in July 1997.
Steaming Up To Richmond Vale	1997	No	No	Yes
Powerhouse Castle Hill Visit	1997	No	No	Yes
Newcastle 200 Tour	1997	n/a	n/a	n/a
Christmas Twighlight Tramway	1997	n/a	No	n/a
Double Decker History Tour	1998	n/a	No	n/a
Maintrain Workshops Tour	1998	n/a	No	Yes
Ropes Creek Revisited	1998	No	No	Yes
4615 Movement to State Mine	1998	Yes	No	No
The Lithgow Contura	1998	Yes	No	No
Twighlight Tramway Christmas	1998	n/a	No	n/a
Bondi to Goods Line	1999	Yes	No	No
The Pylon Tunnnel Walk	1999	n/a	No	No
Steel City Contura	1999	Yes	No	No
U Boats in the Coalfields	1999	Yes	No	No
Eveleigh Central Insight	1999	No	No	n/a
Thirlmere for Christmas	1999	No	n/a	n/a
South Coast Illawanderer	2000	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lapstone ZigZag via Powerhouse	2000	No	No	Yes
Steaming Down to Albion Park	2000	No	n/a	n/a
Clarence Power Contura	2000	Yes	No	n/a
Valley Heights Museum of Fire	2000	No	No	Yes
Hornsby and Hawkesbury	2000	Yes	No	No
Goninan and Newcastle Explorer	2000	No	No	Yes
Balmoral via Lilyfield	2000	No	No	Yes
Abandoned Branch Line Walk	2000	No	No	Yes
Millenium and Toronto Tour	2000	No	No	Yes
Tramways Old and New	2000	No	No	Yes
Dulwich Hill via Darling St Wharf	2001	No	No	Yes
Electric Trains 70th Anniversary	2001	Yes	No	No	Set W3 was ran with SETS. Set F1 in a six car formation was ran with HET.
DELEC and Sandown Branch	2001	No	No	Yes
The Lithgow Explorer	2001	Yes	No	Yes
Flemington Maintenance Centre	2001	No	No	Yes
The Ships and Planes Tour	2001	No	No	Yes
Steam to Royalla	2001	No	Yes	Yes
Meeks Rd + Bus&Truck Museum	2001	No	No	Yes
The Airport Explorer	2001	No	No	Yes
Cockatoo Island and North Head	2001	No	No	No
The Sputnik Suburban	2001	Yes	No	No
Kiama to Dapto Elec Project	2001	No	No	Yes
Christmas at Goulburn	2001	No	No	Yes
North by North West Tour	2002	Yes	No	Yes	The last time SETS would hire out specifically heritage rolling stock. Set W3 retargeted S7a ran the tour.
White Bay Powerhouse	2002	No	No	Yes
Maintrain Inspection	2002	No	No	Yes
Campbelltown Steam Museum 2	2002	No	No	Yes
Promote Hawkesbury Cruise	2002	No	No	n/a
Mortdale and Kogarah Explorer	2002	No	No	Yes
86 Class Farewell	2002	Yes	No	No
Airport Coalfields and 46 Class	2002	Yes	No	No
Ocean and Harbour 46 Class	2003	Yes	No	No
8606 Celebration Tour	2003	Yes	No	No
Live Steam & Electric Car Tour	2003	No	No	Yes
8606 Returns to the North	2003	Yes	No	No
Goulburn Mystery Tour	2004	No	Yes	n/a
Skyway Farewell Tour	2004	No	No	Yes
Changing Flyer Tour	2004	Yes	Yes	No
Passenger Elec SesquiCentenary	2005	Yes	No	No
Eastern Seaboard Double Head	2005	Yes	No	No
Terrain Tunnel Push Pull Tour	2005	Yes	No	No	Would be the last tour operated by an 86 class locomotive. The next time an 86 class locomotive would be used for a heritage event would be the Harbour Bridge 90th anniversary assisting steam locomotive 3801 over the Harbour Bridge.
Numeralla Alco Limited	2006	No	Yes	Yes	44 Class trip from Central to Queenbeyan had to be cancelled due to operational issues with ARTC and RailCorp.
Double Decker Tramway Sizzle	2007	No	No	Yes
Valley Heights Steam Tramway	2008	No	No	Yes
SETS Tramway Christmas Party	2008	No	No	Yes
Powerhouse and Rogans Hill	2010	No	No	Yes
Comeng Crossover Conquest	2010	Yes	No	No
Darling Harbour Steam Cruise	2010	No	No	No
Roundhouse New Year Tour	2011	No	No	Yes
Suburban Interurban Tour	2011	Yes	No	No	Set V13 would be involved in an incident less then a week later with a tree on the Blue Mountains line. That particular carriage got scrapped soon after.
Highlands Escarpment Tour	2011	No	Yes	No
Oberon Explorer Tour	2011	No	No	Yes
Transfer of 8607	2012	No	Yes	Yes
South Coast Chopper Tour	2012	Yes	No	No
Wolgan Valley Railway Tour	2012	No	No	Yes
New and Old Electrics Tour	2012	Yes	No	No	Would be the last 2 carriage electric train tour ever.
Steamfest Express	2013	No	No	Yes
Port Kembla Steel Tour	2013	No	No	Yes
Full Steam to Dorrigo Tour	2014	No	No	Yes
Sydney Forts Tour	2015	No	No	Yes
Steamfest Express	2015	No	No	Yes
Quay to the Coast Tour	2016	No	No	Yes
Fire and Water Tour	2016	No	No	Yes
S Set Farewell Tour	2019	Yes	No	No	Heritage set S28 and S56 ran the set in an 8 carriage formation.
Burbs and Bay Interurban Tour	2019	Yes	No	No	Would be the last time a V Set went down the Carlingford line.
Chopper to the Summit	2021	Yes	No	No	Vandals infamously broke into the rear cab of the tour and hung out the side of the train as it traversed the Parramatta River at Meadowbank.
Great Northern Chopper	2021	Yes	No	No	Did not happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rescheduled tour did not happen either due to the only remaining C Set requiring maintenance for re-certification.
Seaside Interurban Tour	2022	Yes	No	No	A car cruise colloquially known as the "Seaside Statesman Tour" chased the train down to Kiama to get photos of it. Set V21 ran the tour.

Publication

The society formerly published Under the Wires, a bi-monthly magazine.^[18]

Criticism

The society has had various criticism brought up against them over the years.

Restoration of Electric Locomotives

The restoration of 8649 whilst favourable by railfans highlighted a historical blunder. When the 86 class locomotive was drafted in the Candy livery, it was noted that the orange ban be 40 millimeters higher for a standardised look, however in production, the livery was slightly modified to have the orange ban 40 millimeters lower to allow for painting, maintenance and presentation simplified when locomotives were in active service.^[19] The 8649 livery remained faithful to the original draft having the orange ban 40 millimeters higher arguably being the only locomotive to be correctly painted. This has created division in heritage whether the livery should be faithful to the original draft or what the locomotives actually wore in service. Of particular note, the repaint was achieved with a $40,000 heritage grant in which, 8649 has only been used for a heritage use once since the repaint. This event involved it assisting 3801 over the Harbour Bridge and through the city underground during the celebration of the Sydney Harbour Bridges 90th anniversary.^[20]

C Set Incidents

On the 6th of March 2021, the "SETS Chopper to the Summit" tour had vandals break into the rear cab of the C Set train and hang out of the train as it travelled over the John Witton Bridge in Meadowbank during the Hawkesbury River leg of the tour. This was a significant blunder and as such threatened the future of mainline tours of electric preservation. Since the incident, C Set trains have formally been withdrawn with K Set trains receiving significant security modifications to prevent cab break ins.

On the 28th of April 2021, the "SETS Great Northern Chopper Tour" was supposed to operate after COVID-19 restrictions had ended.^[21] This tour was not operated as the train (made up of half of C5 and C9) required maintenance and needed to be recertified. As of November 2023, this tour has still not been operated. The preserved C Set remains out the back of Auburn Maintrain awaiting maintenance.

Preservation of Suburban Single Deck Carriages

The SETS rollingstock as fallen into disrepair as a result of being exposed to natural elements as the society have no other places to store their rolling stock.^[22] One of the most infamous locations, Chullora, came around due to mismanagement. In 1998 when C7489, C7512, C7513 and C7510 were bought, the former three were moved to Meeks Road behind the XPT Maintenance Centre. Between 1999 and 2004, significant work was done to maintain the carriages with C7512 even being put 'on the air' and fully functional.^[23] However, by 2010 the carriages had reached a deplorable state with vandalism being the key cause of there demise. RailCorp no longer wanted the carriages there and by 2011 were shunted to Chullora Industrial Siding. There they joined carriages C3714, C3725, C3237, C3399, and C3772 (Superman). For the last twelve years, they have significantly deteriorated with severe corrosion across all the carriages, electronics and copper stolen and the carriages being further submitted to vandalism. Today, they are empty shells with all sorts of nefarious activities happening within and around them.^[24]

Of note, C3714 and C3725 are outright privately owned by a SETS members whilst SETS only own the bodies on C3237, C3399 and C3772; the bogies are still under the ownership of Sydney Trains. C7510 is stored on a private property with the original intent of using it as a parts carriage.

Management

Any mention of said rolling stock, plans to restore them or failed tours/tours with problems will immediately be deleted on any page with SETS control with the member making the post/comment banned.

One of the members of the SETS group (also councilor for Manly) had suggested the idea of legalizing the illicit drug, Methamphetamine. He stated if the drug was distributed in a regulated way by doctors, it would be better off for users. NSW Premier, Mike Baird declined this idea.^[25]

References

1. "The Farewell Single Deck tour" Railway Digest March 1992 page 117
2. Matthews, Paul (2019). The History of ELECTRIC TRAIN PRESERVATION in NSW. Australia.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. SETS Obtain 46-Class Locomotive Motive Power issue 3 December 1998 page 25
4. "Eligible Preservation Groups Car Allocations" Railway Digest December 1998 page 39
5. Sargent, John (2008). Under the Wires - New South Wales 85 & 86 Class Electrics. Pinewood: Train Hobby Publications Australia. ISBN 9781921122170.
6. Oberg, Leon (2010). Locomotives of Australia 1850s-2010. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 303, 387, 393. ISBN 9781921719011.
7. Remember Sydney Monorail 8 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine Harbourlink
8. 86 Class Electric Reactivated Motive Power issue 120 November 2018 page 7
9. "SETS Fleet - Electric Locomotive 4615". sets.org.au. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
10. "SETS Fleet - Electric Locomotive 4615". sets.org.au. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
11. "SETS Fleet - Double-Deck Suburban S-set Cars". sets.org.au. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
12. "SETS Fleet - Double-Deck Suburban C-set Cars". sets.org.au. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
13. NSW 46 Class Electric Locomotive 4615 28 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Sydney Electric Train Society
14. "SETS Fleet - Electric Locomotive 4615". sets.org.au. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
15. NSW 86 Class Electric Locomotive 8606 17 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Sydney Electric Train Society
16. Howarth, Ryan (2010). Sydney Suburban Standards - the Leeds Forge Cars C3101 to C3150: A First in Australian Railway Carriage Design. Bow River Publishing. ISBN 978 0646530116.
17. Rolling Stock Railway Digest February 1999 page 29
18. Under the Wires 10 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Sydney Electric Train Society
19. Burns, Hugh. "8649 Draft Repaint Diagram" (PDF). Sydney Electric Train Society. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
20. THNSW (21 March 2022). "Sydney celebrates Harbour Bridge 90th". THNSW. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
21. "SETS Tours - The Great Northern Chopper Tour". sets.org.au. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
22. Chullora - Elcar Branch Remains, retrieved 3 November 2023
23. "SETS Fleet - Single-Deck Suburban Cars". sets.org.au. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
24. ABANDONED SYDNEY TRAIN CARRIAGES | red rattlers | train graveyard | Sydney Australia, retrieved 3 November 2023
25. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/nsw-premier-mike-baird-says-manly-councillor-hugh-burns-idea-of-legal-ice-is-crazy-and-will-never-happen/news-story/28e5e8db2f4f1f8b46b37f9eb8a137c6