Re: 2 car Harris seen on Broadmeadows line

["Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

>>What harris trains are still around?  I know there are a few converted to
>> contry trains.  How many where converted to 'grey ghosts' and used on the
Port
>> Melbourne and St. Kilda lines, and what happened to them.
>
>>Also I saw a picture in Newsrail dated around 1987 with them sinking
harris
>> trains into a sluge pit in South Caulifield.  Does anyone know more about
>> this?
>
>>Thanks
>>Chris
>
>As far as I am aware, all the rebuilt Harris cars were rebuilt into the
>interurban cars. There were some of the other cars rebuilt also, although I
am
>not in a position to give numbers etc. The long Harris cars were also
>converted.
>
There were at least eight cars converted into 'Grey Ghosts' - two four car
suburban trains upgraded to Comeng standards. There are some excellent
articles on the history of the Harris cars which goes into quite some detail
in last years Rail News Victoria. The original plan was to do all the Harris
cars in this way but the cost was too prohibitive compared to buying new
Comeng cars, especially once the unions started complaining about drivers'
lack of visibility hence the conversion of Harris cars to Comeng standard
was dropped and the then current contract for new Comeng trains was
extended. I presume the Vline interurban conversions continued as much fewer
modifications were required (ie no need for new electric running gear,
modifications to cabs, etc) and it was presumably still much cheaper than
building or buying new carriages.