DEVELOPMENTS

■ DB CARGO:

Making its first journey for several years to the famed former Marcroft Engineering facility at Stokeon-Trent, WIA five-unit car carrier

No. 85 70 4971 058-8 was delivered by the Arpley ‘tripper’ on March 25, spending two weeks on site before heading back north and into traffic on April 6. The next member of the fleet to arrive was No. 85 70 4971 012-5 on April 22, which last visited the Potteries in summer 2020.

■ ERMEWA RAIL:

Having received the first 11 wagons of its new 23 vehicle order with Millet AFR of France in December 2021, the balance of the Tarmac order of JGA-P cement tankers arrived in the UK through the Channel Tunnel in the second week of April. Nos. 81 70 7829 042-053 continued their journey north on the 12th behind GBRf’s No. 66758 under a 6Z92 headcode for the Dollands Moor to Wembley move. These were constructed at the former Arbel Fauvet factory in Douai, France (see February issue).

■ GB RAILFREIGHT:

WH Davis released a further 20 brand-new and freshly converted wagons into traffic in April, all ready to begin work for GBRf. No. 66709 was assigned to collect the eclectic formation from the Langwith Junction site on the 13th, returning as a 4D21 to Doncaster Down Decoy Yard. The train included cutdown HYAs Nos. 37 70 6791 033-3 and 37 70 6791 042-4, JNA Megaboxes Nos. 81 70 5932 118/130/134 and FWA ‘Ecofret2’ container flats Nos. 83 70 4520 330339 (outers) and 83 70 4521 101-105 (inners).

In the previous month, GBRf’s

No. 66766 delivered 13 former coal hoppers to W H Davis on March 22 for length reduction, the 4D19 working from Doncaster being formed of

HYA Nos. 371073/8, ex-Fastline

Freight Nos. 37 70 6791 050-7 and 37 70 6791 031-7, as well as former Freightliner HHAs Nos. 37 70 6955 313/319/326/328/334/335/339/ 348/352.

■ GROUPE CAT:

Updating last month’s story on the refurbished former STVA car carriers now being deployed on the TotonDollands Moor/Europe service for Toyota, a further six TALT 8000 (four-unit UIC code Laaefooss) sets were released into traffic from Eastleigh during March and April, as follows: Nos. 23 87 4375 006/014/018/032/040/049.

■ COMING SOON:

A further 236 JNA-T (UIC code Ealnos) 101.6-tonne box wagons have been registered with the ORR, Nos. 81 70 5932 461-3 to 81 70 5932 696-4, all to be constructed by Astra Rail in Romania. No further details of lessor or operator have been provided.

■ PRESERVATION:

The Chasewater Railway and National Wagon Preservation Group have continued to acquire merry-go-round hopper wagons to boost the length of the already impressive rake of vehicles at their Staffordshire home. In February Chasewater took ownership of

No. 351207, after the 1965 Shildonbuilt HAA was donated to the railway by the Fire Service College at Moretonin-Marsh. Meanwhile, the NWPG has purchased No. 351500 from a private owner who had stored the HAA at the Barry Railway as a future retirement project. However, with the depot site being claimed by Transport for Wales, the owner decided that the NWPG was the best home for this wagon, which becomes the third example from the original 1680-strong production MGR batch of 1964/5 to be preserved after the above-mentioned No. 351207 and Chasewater’s No. 351111, which was rescued from Mossend Yard still loaded with coal! Once all are operational the partnership will be able to run a train of nine of the classic air-braked hoppers, the remaining vehicles being HAA Nos. 352203, 354456/966, HDA No. 368103, HMA No. 355798, and prototype CDA (ex-HAA) conversion No. 353224.

■ DISPOSALS:

The end of March and much of April was an exceptionally busy four weeks for the cutting teams at EMR Attercliffe, with almost 90 lifeexpired two-axle engineering wagons arriving in five batches, mostly from Doncaster via Toton Yard. The bulk of the redundant vehicles to arrive were the rapidly disappearing MHA/MPA ‘Coalfish’ type, converted from various merry-go-round coal hoppers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with Nos. 394002/9/17/20/4/5/68/9/80/ 3-7/9/92/106/2/92/209/14/7/29/ 38/49/56/63/89/380/1/9/93/ 567/70/86/665/7/9/85/96/706/ 40/86/801/10/43/59/72/77/ 90/905/8/20/43/87/94/6 all making their way to the Sheffield scrapper. The other arrivals were:

RRA Nos. 110640/770, MFA Nos. 391027/101/257/353/483/7/509, MTA Nos. 395020/80/107/19/ 67/201, MHA Nos. 396024/57/67/ 78/81/2/5/95/7/103/26/35/56 and ZCA ‘Sea Urchin’ No. 460641.