Built at Newport Workshops in 1937 as the original dining car for the Spirit of Progress, this car wasn't converted with the train to standard gauge in 1962 and stayed on broad gauge where it was named Murray.
When the service and timetable changes were progressively introduced with the New Deal for country passengers from October 1981, Murray was spare and was used to covered the non availability of other catering cars in the fleet at the time (MBS, MRS, Taggerty and Moorabool). Murray was placed in spare set, which nominally had a consist of CE-AS-Murray-BG-BE-BE.
Sighting of Murray during late 1982 and early 1983 included:
13/11/1982 - 1640 Albury pass X41 with VLPY135-1BCE-31AW-Murray-1BG-2BW-39BE
07/12/1982 - Albury pass (8318) X33 with 37CE-7AZ-Murray-1BG-2BZ-4BE(a/c)
04/01/1983 - Dimboola pass S307 with 70ZLP-14AS-Murray-1BG-55BES-40BW.
31/03/1983 - 1940 Bairnsdale pass (extra) L1162 with VBPY115-5BCE-5AS-Murray-1BG-34BE(a/c)
08/05/1983 - 1755 Albury pass S313 with 34BE(a/c)-1BG-Murray-5AS-4AS-5BCE-VBPY68
11/05/1983 - Mildura (Vinelander replacement due to industrial action) with 34BE(a/c)-1BG-Murray-4AS-5BCE-VLPY
18/05/1983 - 0755 Albury pass with 34BE(a/c)-1BG-Murray-4AS-5BCE
11/06/1983 - 0755 Albury pass S309 and S305 with 19BE(a/c)-31BE(a/c)-1BZ-Murray-4AZ-CD2 + N set.
Around June 1983 Murray and Avoca dining cars were both banned by staff from being used as mini-buffet cars as their internal layout made them difficult to use. By this stage there were enough N sets with buffet facilities for them to be used when a Z set failed.
Murray was removed from spare set and was then only used on the special workings. It had the take-away food bar removed and 12 tables and 48 chairs replaced, reverting back to its dining car form. Murray's only semi-regular use was on Supertrain Promotions and on the Train of Knowledge tours. When Avoca was in the workshops during June and July, Murray substituted for it on all of the Train of Knowledge Tours.
With Supertrain Promotions tours Murray was used with CV1 as a dance and catering car. Supertrain Promotion Tours that Murray was used on between August and October included:
05/08 - Warragul - T372 with 1CV-32AW-25AE-59BE-Murray-29CE
12/08 - Warragul - T class with 1CV-32AW-25AE-59BE-Murray-29CE
13/08 - Seymour - T class with 1CV-32AW-25AE-59BE-Murray-29CE
02/09 - Warragul - T class with Murray-AW-BE-BW-1CV-7CV
03/09 - Seymour - T class with Murray-AW-BE-BW-1CV-7CV
16/09 - Warragul - T class with 1CV-Murray-22AW-47BE-7BW-7CV
21/09 - Seymour - T class with Murray-1CV-47BE-22AW-32BW-7CV
23/09 - Warragul - T class with Murray-1CV-47BE-22AW-32BW-7CV
30/09 - Warragul - T class with Murray and Yarra
01/10 - Warragul - T401 with Murray-1CV-32BW-22AW-47BE-7CV
Murray was made from a Powerline Buffet S car. The Powerline models are based on Tanjil and Wimmera which have some differences in the placement of windows and underbody detail to Murray. The windows on the non door side are correct although the other side has one extra large window in the middle of the side and has 3 of the 2/3rd height windows (as opposed to the 2 on the model) and two less of the small windows.
I started by removing the windows and then filled in the small window at the end of the car with scraps of styrene sheet and plastic putty. I drilled holes and then used a file to enlarge the windows. Strips of styrene were used to make new window frames.
Murray will be used as a substitute to covered the non availability of other catering cars and on the occasional special train.
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