Genuine Leather Seats

A pair of leather-upholstered seats in one of the heritage carriages at the Eveleigh Paint Shop sit facing each other across a small table. The leather is a deep tan, cracked along the seat front and the armrest curves where decades of use have worn the surface. The cushion is sprung underneath, with the springs visible through a small split in the leather of one seat. Brass tacks run along the lower edge of each cushion. Behind the seats, the timber panelling of the carriage's compartment wall is polished and waxed. A reading lamp is fixed to the bulkhead above the table; a chromed luggage rack runs above the lamp. The light catching the leather picks up the patina across the seat backs.

Leather seating was specified for higher-class and long-distance passenger carriages on the NSW Government Railways through the first half of the twentieth century. The hide was more durable than the early upholstery alternatives and could be cleaned in service rather than re-padded. Through the postwar decades the standard moved toward moquette and vinyl on most stock, with leather retained only on the higher-tier interstate services. The seats in this photograph are part of a heritage carriage held at the Eveleigh Paint Shop by Historic Electric Traction. The leather is original; the visible wear is the working record of decades of service.