Commonwealth Engineering, often shortened to Com-Eng, later known as 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 Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Camperdown, as a body builder for custom motor cars. It went bankrupt in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, 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 The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

took control of the company during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. This was followed in 1952 by a plant in Bassendean, Western Australia and in 1954 by another in Dandenong, Victoria. In June 1957, the government sold its shares. In November 1982 Comeng was taken over by Australian National Industries. The Granville factory closed in 1989 and has been demolished. The site, which was situated between the

Great Western Highway Great Western Highway is a state highway in New South Wales, Australia. From east to west, the highway links Sydney with Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst, on the state's Central Tablelands. The highway also has local road names between the ...

and Main Western railway line 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 (later

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, with headquarters in Toronto and Berlin. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. ...

, now

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

), while the Bassendean facility was sold to A Goninan & Co. 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
/ref>

Buses

Australian Capital Territory

*60 ACTION, Canberra Bus Service AEC Reliance 470s *30 Canberra Bus Service AEC Swift 505s

New South Wales

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

Victoria

*50 AEC Regal IIIs

Western Australia

Leyland OPSU1/1s

Diesel locomotives

New South Wales

*8 BHP Port Kembla D1 class 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 has ...

302 class diesel-hydraulic locomotive * 1

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

Western Australia

*1 MRWA E class locomotive *10 WAGR B class locomotives *11 Westrail N class diesel locomotives * Alco 636 M636 diesel locomotives for Hamersley Iron *21 Alco 636 diesel locomotives for Mount Newman Mining *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

*6 Tasmanian Government Railways DP class railcars

India

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