Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams.

History

Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engineering, was founded in 1921, in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown, as a body builder for custom motor cars. It went bankrupt in the Depression, and was reformed as Waddingtons Body Works and the main factory was moved to Granville, after a fire in the main workshop. The Government of Australia took control of the company during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as the company was in serious financial difficulties but had many government orders in its books. The government purchased a controlling stake in the company in 1946 and changed the name to Commonwealth Engineering. In 1949 a factory was established in

Rocklea, Queensland Rocklea is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Rocklea had a population of 1,595 people. Geography Rocklea is located 9 kilometres south of the city. The west of the suburb is bordered by the Oxley Creek. The s ...

. This was followed in 1952 a plant in

Bassendean, Western Australia __NOTOC__ Bassendean (once referred to as West Guildford) is a north-eastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the Town of Bassendean. It is also the name of the sand dune system on the Swan Coastal Plain known ...

and in 1954 by another in

Dandenong, Victoria Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...

. In June 1957, the government sold its shares. In November 1982 Comeng was taken over by

Australian National Industries Australian National Industries was an Australian heavy engineering company with diverse range of holdings. History In 1911 John McGrath began to sell motor vehicles. It operated the first public garage in New South Wales. The company held motor ...

. The Granville factory closed in 1989 and has been demolished. The site, which was situated between the

Great Western Highway Great Western Highway (also known as Broadway from to , Parramatta Road from Chippendale to , and Church Street through Parramatta) is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia. From east to west, the highway links Sydney with Bathu ...

and

Main Western railway line The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions. It is with operational & under construction & repairs. Description of ...

west of Duck River, has been replaced with new developments including high-rise housing and light industries. In 1990, the Dandenong plant was sold to ABB Transportation (later

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing indus ...

, now

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Av ...

), while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co (now

UGL Rail UGL Rail is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel and electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL Limited and is based in Melbourne, with a staff of ...

). John Dunn has written a history of Comeng: *Volume 1, 1921 – 1955, published in 2006 *Volume 2, 1955 – 1966, published in 2008 *Volume 3, 1967 – 1977, published in 2010 *Volume 4, 1977 – 1985, published in 2013 *Volume 5, 1985 – 1990, published posthumously in November 2013

Buses

Australian Capital Territory

*60 Canberra Bus Service

AEC Reliance The AEC Reliance was a mid-underfloor mounted engined single-decker bus and coach chassis manufactured by AEC between 1953 and 1979. The name had previously been used between 1928 and 1931 for another single-decker bus chassis. History Two p ...

470s *30 Canberra Bus Service

AEC Swift The AEC Swift was a rear-engined step entrance single-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC between 1964 and 1980. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther. It was available in and lengths, with an AEC AH505 or AH691 ...

505s

New South Wales

*50 Leyland OPSU1/1s *50 AEC Regal IVs

Victoria

*50 AEC Regal IIIs

Western Australia

Leyland OPSU1/1s

Diesel locomotives

XP2009 at Tallarook in November 2011

New South Wales

BHP Port Kembla D1 class The D1 class were a class of diesel locomotives built by Commonwealth Engineering, Granville with English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer for ...

diesel locomotives *6 442 class diesel locomotives *10 70 class diesel hydraulic locomotives *50 80 class diesel electric locomotives *15 XPT power cars

Queensland

Mount Isa Mines Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It ha ...

302 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive * 1

305 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive * 7 DL class locomotives for Innisfail Tramway operations

Western Australia

Don Rhodes Mt Newman Mining 5497, 2012 (1)

MRWA E class The MRWA E class was a single member class of diesel-hydraulic shunting (switching) locomotive built by Commonwealth Engineering, Bassendean, Western Australia, for the Midland Railway of Western Australia (MRWA) in 1957. The locomotive was la ...

locomotive *10

WAGR B class The WAGR B class was a class of 4-6-0T tank locomotives operated by the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) between 1884 and 1959. History The first two were ordered from Kitson & Co, Leeds in 1884 to work the steeply graded Easter ...

locomotives *11 Westrail N class diesel locomotives * Alco 636 M636 diesel locomotives for

Hamersley Iron Pilbara Iron is a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Rio Tinto Group, that manages assets for Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, and Robe River Iron Associates, an unincorporated joint venture between Rio ...

*21 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for

Mount Newman Mining The Mount Newman railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Goldsworthy rail ...

*12 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Robe River Mining

Electric locomotives

New South Wales

*10 85 class electric locomotive *50 86 class electric locomotive

Queensland

* 18 3100 class electric locomotive * 68 3200 class electric locomotive

Diesel multiple units

New South Wales

*5 1100 class ''Budd'' railcars

Queensland

*24 1800 class railcars *2 1900 class railcars *40 2000 class railcars

South Australia

*30 2000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars *20 3000 class Adelaide suburban diesel railcars

Western Australia

*10 West Australian ADK diesel multiple units *8 West Australian ''Prospector'' diesel railcars *5 West Australian ''Australind'' diesel railcars

Tasmania

Tasmanian Government Railways DP class The Tasmanian Government Railways DP class was a class of diesel railcars operated by the Tasmanian Government Railways. History The DP class diesel railcars comprised eight different batches of vehicles. The early members were originally petr ...

railcars

India

*Diesel railcars for Indian Railways''The Indian Railcar Contract'' Adam, Eric Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, December 1989 pp285-291

Electric multiple units

New South Wales

*80 Sputnik Sydney suburban carriages *80 U set Intercity carriages *359 S set Sydney suburban carriages *246 V set Intercity carriages *11

Skitube Alpine Railway The Skitube Alpine Railway is an Australian standard gauge electric rack railway in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales. It provides access to the snowfields at Blue Cow Mountain and the Perisher Valley. History In the 1980s, devel ...

electric carriages

Victoria

*570 ''Comeng'' Melbourne suburban carriages

Carriages

Commonwealth Railways

*24 carbon steel carriages *124 stainless steel carriages

Long Island Rail Road

*10 C1 bilevel cars (design only; built by

Tokyu Car Corporation Tokyu may refer to: * Tokyu Group, a group of companies centered on Tokyu Corporation ** Tokyu Corporation, a Japanese railway company, the largest member and parent company of the group ** Tokyu Car Corporation, a former Japanese railway vehicl ...

)

New South Wales

*35 N type carriages *67 RUB carriages *75 stainless steel carriages *47 XPT carriages

Queensland

*99 steel carriages *35 stainless steel carriages *112 suburban stainless steel carriages (SX)

Trams and light rail

New South Wales

*100 R1 class Sydney trams

Victoria

*230

Z class Melbourne tram The Z-class are single-unit bogie trams that operate on the Melbourne tram network. Between 1975 and 1983, 230 trams spanning three sub-classes were built by Comeng, Dandenong. The design was based on two similar Gothenburg tram models, and a ...

s *70 A class Melbourne trams *132 B class Melbourne trams

Hong Kong

*70 MTR Phase I Light Rail Vehicles 1988

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Commonwealth Engineering Engineering companies of Australia Defunct locomotive manufacturers of Australia Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Australia Australian companies established in 1921 Australian companies disestablished in 1990 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1921 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1990