1980s ‘Seacow' Ballast Hopper Wagons
Rail Express|November 2020
Construction of the last series o f‘Seacow’ 40t ballast hopper wagons was shared between Ashford and Shildon works, with 251wagons being constructed in 1981 and 1982.
1980s ‘Seacow' Ballast Hopper Wagons

The design was similar to 1950s ‘Walrus’ ballast wagons and 1970s AFI bake-fitted vacuum-braked YGH ‘Sealion’ wagons which were introduced alongside a small batch of air-braked YGB ‘Seacows’.

The 1980s design followed the same basic design of the Southern Railway/LSWR ballast wagon constructed by Metro-Cammell and Shildon-built wagons except for the use of welded side ribs and different bogies and other details. They rode on Y27C bogies instead of Gloucester bogies fitted to the 1970s YGH and YGB wagons making them distinctly different in character.

Early liveries included a strange pale grey scheme and the more common engineers’ mid grey with a broad yellow band along the upper side of the hopper. The body colour was applied to the solebar whilst bogies were painted black. Lettering and data panels were applied in white directly to the grey body colour. Invariably, the discharge chute and interiors quickly became rusted.

This story is from the November 2020 edition of Rail Express.

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This story is from the November 2020 edition of Rail Express.

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