Wagon Report
THE 50th anniversary of the opening of Merehead rail terminal will take place in May.
This replaced sidings is owned and operated by Foster Yeoman and served an older quarry at Dulcote. Early services were often formed of British Rail MSO/MSV ironstone tipplers. This type of wagon originated with Stewarts & Lloyds, Corby, in 1939/40, although only limited numbers were built before Nationalisation.
Post-war, the concept was promoted by the British Iron
& Steel Federation, with 9,590 wagons built between 1951-60, the majority by British Railways at Derby works.
The final thousand wagons – Nos. B 388090-B 389089 – had vacuum brakes and roller bearings.
Initially, they were used to form block trains moving ironstone from Oxford and Northamptonshire quarries to steelworks in the North East and
Wales. As the industry changed to high-grade imported iron ore the wagons were transferred to stone traffic.
As new private owner stock was introduced to aggregates movements during the late 1970s the wagons were once again redundant.
Further use was found for them by the civil engineers, carrying spent ballast and spoil, making use of their 27-ton capacity.
New Touax JNA box wagons for current-day Mendip Rail traffic are arriving from the Astra Rail factory at Turnu Severin in Romania – Nos. 81 70 5500 804-4 to 859-8. Wagon type is Ealnos. Overall length is 13.97 metres and gross weight 101.6 tonnes.
This company has supplied more than 2,000 new wagons to the UK in the last 20 years.
By contrast the Czech Republic has exported few wagons to the UK. Most numerous are the 100
IZA close-coupled twin vans built in 1999/2000 by Waggon Union for GE Rail Services – Nos. 23 80 2829 200-7 to 299-9.
Gross weight is 90 tonnes with a 63-tonne payload to design code IZE 869.
They were intended for the transport of automotive components from Germany to a BMW engine plant at Hams
Hall and a Volkswagen parts distribution centre at Birch Coppice, but were quickly made redundant when both flows were switched to road transport.
W H Davis workshops at Langwith Junction has continued to rebuild redundant IIA coal hoppers for the movement of aggregates – Nos. 37 70 6955 200-0/202-6/205-9/206-7/210-9/ 215-8/220-8/221-6/244-8/251-3/ 252-1/255-4/258-8/259-6/270-3/ 275-2/276-0.
Another contract being undertaken by W H Davis is the conversion of 100 HHA bogie coal hoppers for VTG Rail UK.
Known donor wagons are
Nos. 370252/254/ 263/267/268/ 273/274/277/280/282/285/ 300/303/304/ 369/373/379/ 398/402/ 404/412 to design code HH 003A.
Alterations to make the wagons more suitable for the carriage of aggregates include removal of two of the original four hopper bays.
Private-owner wagons sent to Long Marston for storage are JNA box opens No. VTG 3256, Nos. VTG 3403/429/432/ 446/468/481/485/486/488/496, Nos. VTG 3504/506/510/516/518, JGA aggregate hoppers Nos. BHQ 17101/102/104-107/109-119/ 121-126/128.
Recent disposals have been OBA ‘Bass’ open No. 110212, OCA open No. 112027, MEA box opens Nos. 391215/384/632/652, SPA steel flats Nos. 460281/293/345/ 619/738/854/863, FNA nuclear flask carriers Nos. 550032/043,
FJA ‘Tench’ dropside equipment carriers Nos. 621900/902/910/914, BNA bogie plate flat No. 965038.