HO VLEX Louvre Van VR VLEX-803

• Powerline
• HO Scale
• VLEX Bogie Louvre Van
• #VLEX-803 Victorian Railways

By the early 1960s the V series of bogie louvre vans were beginning to wear out, with the original series being around 35 years old; and the 50 new members were being used mainly on passenger trains. However, with the continuing increase of traffic (particularly on the new standard gauge line), a need was created for a new, standard type of bogie louvre van.

VLF & VLX: The need for more capacity resulted in the new class of VLF wagons, with the first member, VLF 1, released to service on 25 May 1962. The class became known as “medium” because of the handful of “small” bogie louvre vans still in service and classed UB/UF/UP.

VSX & VSF: Based on the previous VHX design, between 1972 and 1976 a further 250 vans were built. The vans were slightly different from the VHX type, with additional strengthening ‘ribs’ added between the louvre groups on the sides. The new vans were classed VSX and numbered 801 to 1050.

Post 1979, Renumbering:When the Railways of Australia recoding system came into place, the VLX, VHX and VSX/F series of wagons were recoded to a similar theme. The VLX wagons became VLCX; the VHX became VLDX and the VSX/F became VLEX/Y, indicating the wagon types’ heritage. The first two changes were fairly straightforward; however, at the same time as the recode, the VLEY code was boosted to about 120 wagons, using wagons that otherwise would have been converted from VSX to VLEX.