NewportWkshp2

Newport Railway workshops in suburban Melbourne, Australia. I had a wander around the area and oddly, there were no other people this afternoon. An odd looking rail vehicle unlike any other I have seen. I have no idea about its purpose. January 1972.

Further information:
It's a Pintsch gas tank used for carriage lighting.
Used to live in the Spencer Street Passenger Yard for many years.
Pintsch gas, invented by Carl Pintsch in 1851, was distilled from naphtha and was widely used in carriage lighting, lighthouses and other marine navigation aids etc.
Treacherous stuff it claimed many lives in fires following derailments etc in Britain.


From Behind the Railway Scene (1950 publicity brochure), page 12, on VictorianRailways.net website:
www.victorianrailways.net/vr%20history/behind_the_scenes.pdf

On the Victorian system about 550 country passenger
cars are electrically lighted, and the remainder
burn Pintsch gas. The Pintsch gas is carried in cylinders
under the carriages and it is a job of the Train
Lighting staff to fill the tanks before a train leaves.
Pintsch gas is manufactured at North Melbourne (by
the Department's own plant) from crude oil. It has a
greater calorific value than coal gas and has the added
advantage of being compressible to 120 lb. per square
inch. Travelling gas holders—special railway trucks
with cylinders and compressor engine—take supplies
to country centres.

An HO scale model - vrcasts.blogspot.com/p/vc-04-tank-wagon.html

080622 from www.railpage.com.au/f-p2255223.htm#2255223