3102 Seats

The seating in carriage 3102 at the Eveleigh Paint Shop is the long-bench pattern that came in as a retrofit on Sydney's electric suburban fleet. Rows of bench seats run along both sides of the central aisle, each bench wide enough to sleep on. The benches are timber-framed with vinyl pads on the seat and back rail, the vinyl worn through to the padding in the heavy-traffic centre of each bench. Brass handrails sit at the level a standing passenger would grip. The original NSW Government Railways chocolate-and-cream paint runs along the bulkheads above the benches. Light comes from dome fittings down the centre line of the ceiling.

Carriage 3102 was built in the 1920s and electrified along with the rest of Sydney's suburban network in 1926. The bench seating in this photograph replaced an earlier compartment-style arrangement in the same body shell. The retrofit gave a higher passenger capacity per carriage at the cost of any privacy or division between travellers. The benches were sized so that a tired commuter could lie down on the trip home, which generated the nickname applied to this fitting by Sydney's late-night rail crews. The carriage is now part of the Historic Electric Traction collection at Eveleigh Paint Shop, retired from regular service and held for heritage display.