L sheep wagons

L 33 at Wallan April 1978

Photo courtesy Kent Smiley

Number in Class 1405
Number group 1 - 1432
(1 - 1252 gable roof)
(1253 - 1432 curved roof)
Construction period 1896 - 1953
In service 1896 - end
1979 recode
Where built Newport W.S.
Diagram
More photos
Modeling Train Hobby made some exquisite brass models of the gable roof L's but they are hard to come by now and are expensive. SEM has just (April 2003) released a supurb HO model of the gable roof L's
Although they mainly carried sheep, other animals such as pigs were occasionally carried. They often ran in block trains from the country to two main locations in Melbourne: Newmarket stockyards and animal processing plants near Brooklyn. In the 1970's a live sheep export trade was established with Saudi Arabia and the L's were used extensively to move the sheep to Portland for loading onto ships.

Apart from the roof change the only variation of significance was the handbrake. L 1 - L 452, had the hadbrake mounted on the side sill. L 453 - 1252 had the handbrake attached via a casting which put the pivot point further from the side sill.

CLICK HERE for a 1948 VR article on the transport of stock

Classleader L 1 at Tottenham, Nov 6 1975
Photo courtesy Peter J. Vincent

Numbers Quantity Year/s built Notes
1 - 282 254 1896 - 1920 1
283 - 382 100 1920
383 - 402 20 1903
403 - 452 50 1905
453 - 602 150 1907
603 - 620 18 1908
621 - 702 82 1909
703 - 802 100 1911
803 - 902 100 1912
903 - 977 75 1914
978 - 1052 75 1916
1053 - 1136 84 1918
1137 - 1152 16 1919
1153 - 1202 50 1920
1203 - 1236 34 1924
1237 - 1252 16 1925 2
1253 - 1332 80 1938
1333 - 1432 100 1953

Notes
1 The following numbers were NOT used for this design L wagon
11, 12, 18, 28, 44, 45, 55, 57, 91, 103, 104, 109, 110, 111, 112, 138, 143, 144, 148, 150, 153, 156, 159, 160, 165, 175, 181
.
2 L's before this group built with screw couplers, L's from this group on built with auto couplers.

Page last updated Fri, Jan 26, 2007