During Easter and for the three weeks around Christmas and New Year's, the G cars were withdrawn from suburban service and used to boost the country rail network's capacity. This was justified by the fewer commuters at the time. The carriages had been specially fitted with alternate gas-lighting equipment (hence the G code). An example of this type of use can be seen in Newsrail March 1988 p.78, in a photo of a Melbourne to Ballarat special dated 24 December 1936. During Easter of 1941 an extra to Bendigo was recorded as A2965-A2837 hauling 51G-40G-57G-41G-145B-28AV-35G-8AW-7CW.