For this flashback we turn the clock back 58 years. On the 14th of July 1961 the South Maitland Railways accepted delivery of the third and final SMR railcar built by Tulloch Limited.

For many years the SMR had hired the NSWGR to operate passenger trains between Cessnock and Maitland but by the 1950s it was becoming too expensive to operate with so little return and in a effort to cut costs the decision was made for the SMR to operate their own passenger trains. Tulloch submitted a proposal to SMR in 1958 which was accepted in 1959.

These railmotors were powered by a single Rolls-Royce motor and could operate independently or in multiple unit. The first arrived on the 26th of April 1961 with number 2 arriving on the 2nd of June. The railmotors entered revenue service on the 1st of October 1961 with an initial high patronage but with rising car ownership the patronage dropped and the final run was on the 24th of January 1967 and the railmotors were withdrawn. They sat at East Greta Junction for a decade before being scrapped for the motors.

Matthew Wilson