DRC railcar

DRC Railcar
DRC43 at Seymour Railway Heritage Centre in March 2010
Manufacturer	Tulloch Limited
Built at	Rhodes
Constructed	1971-1973
Entered service	1971-1995
Number built	4
Fleet numbers	DRC40-DRC43
Operator(s)	Victorian Railways V/Line
Specifications
Car length	23.47 metres
Width	2.88 metres
Height	4.18 metres
Maximum speed	112 km/h
Weight	65 t (64.0 long tons; 71.7 short tons)
Traction system	Diesel
Prime mover(s)	Cummins NTA 855-R
Transmission	Voith T113 2 stage automatic hydraulic transmission, Dana-Spicer axle drive to one axle per bogie
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)

The DRC (Diesel Rail Car) was a class of railmotor operated by the Victorian Railways on its country rail network Victoria, Australia. The cars were built by Tulloch Limited in New South Wales and featured aluminum and steel construction, air-conditioning, and twin diesel engines with hydraulic transmissions.

The first railcars of this type were built for the New South Wales Government Railways as the 1200 class railcars in 1970. The Victorian Railways decided to order two railcars of their own to replace the 280hp Walker railmotors then in use. The first railcar entered service in May 1971 as DRC40, followed by DRC41 on November 1971. The cars suffered numerous failures in service, and by 1974 the Public Transport Commission had decided to withdraw their fleet.

The Victorian Railways purchased two of the NSW 1200-class cars and modified them for Victorian use in June 1974. The eight remaining railcars were converted to loco hauled carriages in 1982 and used on the South Coast Daylight Express until January 1991 and Moss Vale and Goulburn services until November 1993. They entered service as DRC42 (formerly PCH 1224) and DRC43 (formerly PCH 1227) in August and December 1975 respectively. By 1978 the railcars still had issues with reliability, with a modification program being carried out at the Bendigo Workshops in 1983/84. Four MTH carriages were converted from Harris suburban carriages in 1984, for use as trailers with the DRC railcars.