Fairmont M19

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Fairmont M19

The car above is an M19-Z42, Fleet number M21 formerly of South Australian Railways, then Australian National Central Region. This car was ex Port Lincoln in South Australia, where a couple of other M19-Z42s also ran.

There is some conjecture that one M19-Z42 was built in the US, and the rest then built locally. A builders plate on a QR car gives a build date for the M19-Z42 as around the mid 1950's. The M15 was then designed by Fairmont as the preferred narrow gauge ar.

The cab is a later Australian National Railways Cab. The SAR had its own style of cab as was fitted to this M19-Z63, M60

These were built prior to the M15-Z42 cars which were designed specifically for narrow gauge working. Queensland Railways had a number of these cars, (sixteen, in 1954 and twenty four in 1955) a number of which were also run by The Postmaster Generals Office (later Australia Post and Telstra).

A few still around in Queensland . I have heard a figure of ten in SA and I know of one in Tasmania, last known to be with Don River, but delivered to the Emu Bay Railway Co.

This is an EX Commonwealth Railways M19, Fleet number 140, with a typical CR cab.

The South Australian Railways purchased a small number of M19AAs as it progessed the standardisation of the Port Pirie to Broken Hill line. This is one of them in Peterborough Yard in late 1985. I believe that this car has been restored privately. Two other ex SAR M19AA's are in NSW, and two have been preserved locally.

The cars did not remain original for long, as the more powerful motors were believed to have contributed to a number of prangs in the early seventies. They were remotored with the smaller less powerful RO-C motors.

M19s also worked on the broad gauge with the SAR, the standard gauge with NSWGR, and on the Commonwealth Railways standard gauge.

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