Project: Railfreight
Recreating the scene of British Rail's Speedlink and Railfreight scene of the 1980's
An individual associated with the NWPG approached both us and the Chasewater with an idea to recreate the famous mixed traffic and tripper trains of the 1980s, known as Speedlink.
All parties were excited for this project and as such, three of the four wagons arrived on site. They can be seen in use not only as a railfreight train, but used on the Permanent Way trains that keep the Chasewater's line safe and in good repair for the public who travel on the line
The OBA Bass wagon is located at the Great Central Railway as part of their Permanent Way trains.
Project Railfreight Wagons
PDA 7459
Originally numbered VAA 200429 and built in 1971 by Ashford Works under Lot 3764, part of 125 wagons ordered in this batch to diagram 1/262
The wagon was transferred to MoD use in 1998 and renumbered into their internal number series and also had a change of TOPS code to PDA 7459, however there was no modification other than a lick of paint.
The wagon was based at MoD Marchwood in Southampton, typically moving ammunition to and from the docks, as well as other military-related items.
When Marchwood Port was sold to ABP Ports Ltd, the land and the wagons were all sold as a bundle. ABP wanted the wagons to live on in preservation and the NWPG were contacted in 2024 and this was one of 12 wagons that entered preservation before the site was cleared and the rest of the wagons were sent for scrap, with the NWPG facilitating the preservation of the other 11 wagons.
VAA 200406
200406 was built in 1971 by Ashford works under Lot 3764 which was part of the order for 125 wagons, numbered 200325 - 200449. The vans were 45t Vanfit, built to design code 1/262.
This wagon was latterly numbered ZRA 024988, an internal user wagon at Derby RTC.
This wagon was one of 1400 vans, built between 1969 and 1978 and were BR's first general-purpose air-braked vans, their main use being on the new Air-Braked Network (later Speedlink) services.
OBA 110443
110443 was a 31 ton open good wagon with wooden dropside doors and steel ends, built in 1979 at Ashford Works as part of an initial order of 500 wagons built to design code 3909.
The wagons were originally designed for use on the Air-Braked Network (later called Speedlink) services. However, A decline in general merchandise traffic affected the fleet and many of the OBAs were transferred to departmental use within a few years. Later, both types saw a variety of modifications and conversions for other duties.
This wagon was one of those conversions and was recoded ZDA and given the prefix KDC (Signal and Telegraph Engineers department). This wagon came from Whitemoor Yard in 2022, where it was awaiting disposal for scrap.
MHA 394001
394001 was the first production line conversion at RFS Doncaster in 1997 to design code MH001A. The initial batch was for the conversion of 400 wagons under Lot 3997. The honours of the first conversion went to HAA 365673
The Coalfish project was an innovation by EWS to give further life to over 1,000 redundant MGR coal hoppers due to the introduction of HTA bogie coal hoppers.
The prototype coalfish, 394000 (353163) was essentially a cut down MGR hopper with a walkway at one end, however it was decided to fabricate shortened boxes similar to the MEA design and weld the hopper doors shut.
These wagons gave 27 strong years moving ballast and sand in and out of possession sites during engineering blockades. When the wagon was finally dispatched for scrap, some phone calls were made to the scrap merchant and a deal was made to preserve the wagon, thus representing the final chapter in both the 2-axle engineering wagon and the MGR story.
VBA 200631
Originally built as VBA 200631 at Shildon Works in 1974 under Lot 3840 as part of a 100 wagon order, those numbers being 200550 - 200649.
This wagon became part of the War Goods fleet for the Ministry of Defence and renumbered as WGB 4316. The wagon was originally moved in to preservation by the C20G at Ruddington and then the wagon was moved to Leicester MPD in 2017, being used as a mobile stores van until 2019, when it was bought by Kieran and moved to the Chasewater Railway as part of Project Railfreight.
OAA 100036
100036 was one of 100 wagons ordered by British Rail and built at their Ashford Works in 1971 under Lot 3727 to design code 1/191 (OA001A)
Capable of carrying 31 tonnes, the new wagons had three six-plank dropside doors on each side, with removeable stanchions to provide full length access if required for loading. The wagons were all painted in freight brown carrying the code OPEN AB. Most also carried the ABN marking on a yellow circle.
In the latter part of 1999, a programme of replacing the doors on the OAA wagons began. This was for the wagons that were allocated on the Merehead to Acton concrete block traffic. The new doors were formed of metal mesh, to reduce weight and improve visibility.
The wagon was preserved in September 2022 by Kieran again, from Whitemoor Yard and was moved to the Great Central Railway where the wagon resides to this day.