Parcel Van 3903

Parcel Van 3903 at the Eveleigh Paint Shop is a steel-bodied freight-style carriage sitting on one of the workshop tracks. The body is solid-sided with no passenger windows, just a row of small ventilator grilles along the upper part of each side. Large sliding doors at the centre of each side open onto the load deck inside. The number 3903 is lettered in white block capitals on the body side, alongside the NSW Government Railways class designation. The roof is corrugated steel, painted to match the body. End vestibules are smaller than on the passenger fleet; the doors are single-leaf hinged rather than sliding, with the standard end-platform railings. Bogies under the carriage are heavy steel-framed.

Parcel vans on the NSW Government Railways carried parcels, freight, mail, and small goods alongside the passenger services on long-distance and country trains. The vans ran in the consist between the locomotive and the passenger fleet, or at the rear behind the last passenger carriage. Loading and unloading took place at station platforms during stops, with the doors and the load deck sized for hand-trolley access. Parcel Van 3903 is part of the heritage rolling-stock collection at the Eveleigh Paint Shop. It is retired from active service. The body and the running gear are essentially intact; the interior fittings remain as they were on the day the van was last loaded.