As the Victorian Railways' fleet of Z vans began to age, the railways decided to invest in bogie designs for vans. Some van designs were included in a class of new passenger vehicles. Many other vans, for both freight and passenger work, were built separately from any other rolling stock developments, and these are the ones that feature here in detail.

C vans

The first development in passenger guard's vans, the DD class, totalling 44, was built between 1888 and 1893. They were long, and sat on two bogies. They featured a centred cupola, made possible due to the lack of passenger compartments; and the design was effectively two Z vans back-to-back, with a single cupola and fitted with bogies. Around 1890 some of the vans were fitted with end vestibules, and in 1893 the class was fitted with toilets for the guard.

In the 1910 recoding the DD vans became the C vans. Not much information is available on the vans between 1910 and 1950, so it is assumed that they were generally unaltered. Around this time the class absorbed some of the older Intercolonial Express vans, which had been built to a South Australian Railways design but given to the Victorian Railways when that fleet was replaced with newer vehicles of the E type carriage group. These vans became 45C and 46C, were slightly shorter and had the guard compartment fitted at one end instead of centrally.

In 1908 vans 17 and 24 were modified for mail sorting use, and recoded DDMS. Circulars (internal rail notices) from the era noted that the two vans were used on the Bendigo service, one van on the 0645 Bendigo and the 1515 Melbourne trains, and the other van for the 1215 Bendigo and the 1850 Melbourne services. In the 1910 recoding the vans became the CDS class, still retaining numbers 1 and 2. In 1922 it was decided that the vans were no longer needed in mail traffic, so they were converted back to what was by then the C vans. They became C47 and C48 respectively, because the 1910 recoding had used their old numbers - the class had been renumbered to fill the gaps.

However, the renumbering had allowed for van C43 to be numbered as such. This van was similar to others in the class but it has a very different history. More information can be found here.

In 1942 van 16C was permanently allocated to the wartime military ambulance train, at one end of a string of eleven BPL cars that were topped at the other end by dining car Campaspe and Sleeping Car No.5.

By the mid-1950s the vehicles were worn out and in need of replacement, after up to 70 years of hard service. Instead of creating a whole new class, under frames and bodies were repaired or replaced as required, retaining the same numbers. When this happened the vestibule connections on applicable vans were eliminated and boarded over.

Some of these vans also possessed a 'ducket', which was a small box with windows on the side of the van, to allow the guard to look down the side of the train. 'Duckets' were not always applied to both sides or both ends of the train - their application seems rather random.

Due to a lack of inter-carriage diaphragms and the ancient construction giving draughty conditions for staff, the vans were banned from service as of midnight 7 June 1982.Newsrail September 1982 p.212

Preserved units In 2013, six C vans were recorded as being preserved,Bray, Vincent & Gregory, Preserved Rolling Stock of Victoria, 2013, , p.175 though none were operational.

18C was preserved by the Victorian Goldfields Railway at Maldon, awaiting restoration. 27C was preserved at Newport Workshops, stored on "rotten road". 28C was preserved by the Daylesford Spa Country Railway, "pending restoration". 35C was preserved (where?) 40C was preserved by the South Gippsland Railway, and restoration had been planned for the 2015-2016. The railway closed in 2016, and scrapping of the van commenced June 2021 48C was preserved by Steamrail Victoria, under the care of DERMPAV, in no.9 road at West Block, Newport Workshops.

Additionally, 25C was preserved on private property at Wheatsheaf, Victoria.

CA, VVAP vans

In 1960, because of the experiences encountered during rebuilding of the C vans, a new set of 15 C vans was built, numbered one to fifteen. These vans were intended for freight service. The remaining old C vans in that number range were renumbered to make room, but stayed as C vans.

The new C vans differed in that they were fitted with periscopes rather than cupolas, and that they were constructed from steel instead of wood.

By 1961 the class had been re-lettered to CA.

In the 1979 renumbering, the class was altered to become the VVAP's. However they did not last long, as the class was not re-lettered until 1983-1986 and by this time guard's vans were being eliminated on freight trains.

Preserved units Three of the CA vans have been preserved,Bray, Vincent & Gregory, Preserved Rolling Stock of Victoria, 2013, , p.176 though none are currently operational.

3CA was retained by the State Government until 1993, as VVAP3. It was then sold into preservation. 4CA has been preserved and is currently operating as an AIRBNB under the name "The Oakview Carriage" situated on Oakview Wildlife Refuge in Queensland 12CA was preserved by the Victorian Goldfields Railway at Maldon, awaiting restoration. In 2009, it was shifted to Donald, and is now displayed with an assortment of other vehicles including Taggerty and J539.

CE vans

The class started as the DVE's of 1906, numbers 1 to 16. In 1910 they became the CE's, and construction continued up to 32CE in 1923. In 1924 CE 33-37 were built with elliptical roofs instead of clerestory.

CO vans

Two guard's/luggage vans were constructed for The Overland in 1970.

CP, VVCP vans

From 1956 to 1958, 40 guard's vans of the CP design were constructed by A.E. Goodwin (NSW), and painted in a Passenger Red livery. They were intended to run on passenger trains and some fast goods trains, and had a freight capacity of 10 tons. The vans were of all-steel construction and welded to an underframe, which rested on two 4-wheeled bogies fitted with roller bearings.

Aesthetically the vans were very similar to the earlier S8300 series vans of the South Australian Railways, and the later WBA and WBC vans of the Western Australian Government Railways. The new vehicles had many amenities, including a stainless steel wash basin, toilet, mirror and stove. The walls and ceilings were lined with wool and the interior lining was of painted plywood, while the floor was insulated with a rubber layer. All windows were of armour-plate safety glass. Earlier vans had three windows per sliding door, while later vans had one per sliding door. All vans were fitted with axle-mounted generators for electric lighting.

To allow the removal of ZJF vans from service between Melbourne and Adelaide, nine of the 40 vans were recoded to JCP in the late 1960s, the 'J' representing "Joint Stock". They were not needed from the mid-1980s and so were then re-lettered back to CP, with their old numbers.

Over time, some members of the class were repainted into Wagon Red, signifying their move from passenger to freight service.

Between 1983 and 1986, the entire class was recoded to VVCP. However, in 1987 vans VVCP 34, 16 and 25 were modified at Ballarat North Workshops and repainted in the V/Line orange, white and green livery. They re-entered service as CP vans 291, 292 and 293, and were later joined by CP294 ex VVCP6. The changes included making them compatible with BRUTE trolleys, removal of the stove, toilet, dog box, luggage shelves and drover's seat.

The vans were intended to replace the CD vans which had been leased in the early 1980s due to problems with the CE vans, and retained for use on semi-fixed E type and K type carriage sets. The first three had corridor connections added at both ends, although CP294 only had the connection installed at one end. These connections recycled components from scrapped Harris cars, with cushioned diaphragms matching N sets. The vans had a luggage capacity of 10 tonnes, and were rated for operation at up to . All vans had their periscopes removed. All four were painted in a matching scheme, except that CP294's grey roof extended down to just above the doors.

CP291 entered service on 23 July 1987, CP292 in August and CP293 in September the same year.

For a brief period in 1992 the CO vans were not available for use on The Overland due to maintenance requirements, so V/Line substituted the CP vans on an as-required basis (e.g. CP294 on 3 August 1992).

West Coast Railway CP, PCP All four vans were later transferred to West Coast Railway in 1993, and repainted from the V/Line orange scheme into the blue with white and yellow of West Coast Railways in mid-1994. Like the steam locomotive tenders and the diesel locomotives, the vans' white stripe from the east end terminated in the middle with a "W" logo, and a tail-end white stripe was added at the west end. Notably, the livery on 294 was the reverse of the other three, with the extended diagonal white stripe from the "W" logo running across the central door on both sides.

In 1995, CP293 was damaged and rendered unserviceable in a derailment at Werribee. It was stored at Ballarat East workshops and used as a source of spare parts. In August 2004, when West Coast Railway was closed, the van was purchased by the Rotary Club of Casterton, placed near the former railway station, with its West Coast Railway colours were restored. By 2008, the van had moved to the nearby river flats, and shortly after that it progressed to a local scrap merchant.

At the end of 1996, vans CP292 and CP294 were converted to include head-end-power generators in the west end, and recoded to PCP. The maximum goods load was reduced from ten tonnes to six, and the conversion included repainting of the existing scheme including the tail-end stripe.

In 1998, the two PCP vans were repainted, which is probably when the centre W logo was replaced with the W over the generator end of the van, with no continuing white stripe at that end. At that time, the north and south side guard windows were removed, along with PCP292's west end diaphragm. However, PCP294 had a buffing plate added above where the diaphragm connection would have been installed at the west end, if that had ever taken place.

Further details on CP, PCP van alterations here:

In 2000, van CP291 was sold to Steamrail Victoria. It was last used in that year when the Millennium Aurora special train visited Melbourne from Sydney. It was spotted stabled in the westernmost storage siding of Newport Workshops' West Block on 12 November 2016. The van appeared to have had a single coat of Victorian Railways royal blue applied over the top of the West Coast Railways scheme, but fifteen years of weathering has worn that down with the outline of the West Coast Railway decals showing through; and in other places the light blue and even the V/Line orange have been exposed. Underframe markings indicate that the van was last examined for serviceability sometime in 2000.

Preservation With the demise of West Coast Railway in 2004, PCP292 became the property of Steamrail, which repainted the van blue and gold, with Steamrail Victoria lettering. PCP 294 was acquired by 707 Operations and repainted in the Vintage Rail Travel red and silver livery, with 707 Operation logos. Both vans were used as observation vans on railfan tours. Other vans still extant include 4, 28 and 31 at Seymour although they were sold in 2025; 33 at the Newport Railway Museum, and 37 and 39 stored at Newport workshops.

As of 2025 CP 13 & 15 are privately owned in Keilor East.

Espee Railroad Services, a company run by the Australian Railway Historical Society ACT Division, owned vans 24, 30 and 35, and used them on the standard gauge in conjunction with their K-type carriages.