FREIGHT CARD WA GOVT RAILWAYS

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1973

Subcollections

Overview

Freight Card for Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) to be attached to goods prior to weighing and despatch. These were used extensively on the WAGR system.

Historical information

Railway staff attached these paper cards to goods wagons to show that a car needed a weighbridge measurement. The printed form tracks important shipping details like the wagon number, cargo contents, and route information.
Found in November 2016 in the old railway building at the former freight yard in West Toodyay, now the Toodyay community depot area.
After 1966, the West Toodyay station was located at the junction of the narrow gauge Miling railway line (which originally directed trains from Miling through Toodyay to Clackline) and the new standard gauge line which brought trains directly to Toodyay from Perth.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-37-2017.8

Item type

Documents

Material

Cardboard

Ink

Contextual information

Key indicators for the date of the card:
The Print Code: In the top left corner, the code 140/73 is visible. On government and railway stationery of this era, the trailing two digits typically signify the year the form design was printed or authorized—in this case, 1973.
Metric Weight Units: The top section lists the mass fields in Tonnes and Kilograms rather than imperial measurements (Tons, Hundredweights, Quarters). Australia officially converted its rail freight system to the metric system in 1973, matching the print code perfectly.
Agency Name: The card features the name Western Australian Government Railways. WAGR transitioned its trading name to Westrail beginning in 1975, meaning forms carrying the full traditional title layout were generally phased out or replaced by the late 1970s.

Keywords

Western Australian Government Railways

Year

1973

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Last modified

Friday, 11 September, 2026

Completeness

Item feedback

Shire of Toodyay