CPH Railmotor

The CPH (or 42 foot) railmotors were introduced by the New South Wales Government Railways in 1923 to provide feeder service on country branch lines.

Introduction
Often referred to as "Tin Hares", having evolved at the same time as the mechanical lures used in greyhound racing in Australia, the first vehicle was placed in service on 17 December 1923 and based at Culcairn, in southern New South Wales

Construction
They were lightweight vehicles and considerable care was taken in the original selection of materials used in their construction. One of the most innovative features was the underframe. No bolts or rivets were used in its construction and it was fabricated entirely by welding. It is believed to be the first application of such technique on a railway vehicle in Australia. The body was of timber construction, using mainly Queensland yellow wood, pines and cedars. The cars were finished externally with tongue and grooved timber below the window line.

Seating
As built, the normal seating capacity was 45, 21 in 1st class and 24 in 2nd (or economy) class. A further seven could be accommodated on the flap seats provided in the guard's compartment. An additional feature of these cars were the prized seats either side of the driver (the drivers cab being centrally located in the middle of the carriage, there was one passenger seat located either side of the cab, looking directly ahead).

Motors
As built, they were fitted with petrol engines of either Leyland or Thornycroft manufacture and a three-speed mechanical transmission controlled by a massive lever in the cab. Experiments were made with AEC and Winton motors in some vehicles. During World War 2, to conserve fuel, gas producer units were fitted to six vehicles. Five of these were damaged when fire spread to the vehicle. Beginning in 1945, a programme began to replace the petrol motors with GM diesels. It was at this time that multiple unit controls were fitted.

Operations
A total of 37 vehicles were built and they operated many branch line services throughout the state, from Kyogle in the north to the Riverina in the south, as well as extensively through the central western regions, until their widespread withdrawal in November 1983 and replacement by road transport. A fleet of 12 CPHs continued to be used extensively in the Wollongong area, working north to Waterfall, west to Moss Vale and south to Port Kembla and Kiama. In Newcastle CPHs provided passenger services on the Belmont until these ceased in April 1971. They also operated pre-electrification service on many Sydney suburban services. These include Bankstown to Lidcombe, Clyde to Carlingford, Liverpool to Campbelltown, Westmead to Rogans Hill, Kingsgrove to East Hills, Hornsby to Cowan, Blacktown to Richmond and Sutherland to Waterfall. In November 1984 the last Sydney area motors were withdrawn from Richmond services along with most of those in Wollongong. The final two CPHs, 36 & 37, were withdrawn after the Moss Vale to Wollongong service ceased in September 1985.

Preservation
Following their withdrawal many were saved for preservation.