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Fleet news
4 fleet news items found.
Wagon News
Posted on Tuesday 11th February 2025 by Thomas Young

A couple of recent wagon developments are (I think) rather interesting. Firstly, a batch of 60 new steel wagons is in the course of delivery. These don't seem to have been mentioned in the railway press yet but visitors to LTSV may have noticed that the batch of numbers was added a couple of months ago. The frames for the wagons are being built by DB Cargo in Poland, then shipped to Stoke where they are fitted with 3-piece bogies recovered from withdrawn HTA coal hoppers. The interesting aspects are the numbering and the coding. The new wagons have been given the same BAA-T TOPS code that is applied to re-bogied BAA wagons, even though the latter were built around 50 years ago. This is presumably for operational convenience, as the new wagons are broadly similar in configuration and will no doubt work alongside (as well as replacing) the older types. The number range for the new wagons is 900400-900459. Again this appears to be to relate the new wagons to the older BAA types but it is notable that this is the first time since 2008 that new-build wagons have been given domestic numbers as their 'primary' identities. The new wagons do also have EVNs (European Vehicle Numbers) assigned, and these are applied externally, albeit smaller than the 900xxx number. Even here there is a mystery, with the wagons noted so far having a random collection of EVNs in the range 82.70.4614.044-129.

Also now arriving are a further batch of FEA-G intermodal twins from Astra Rail in Slovakia, numbered 81.70.4663.401-440, although here too there are some mysteries. The wagons were reported to be a follow-on to the large GBRf order and financed by Wascosa, with the end-user thought to be Network Rail. However, the wagons reported to far have been in intermodal use with GBRf. To be fair, this did also happen with the earlier 70.4524 FEA-Ws for Wascosa/Network Rail, and it could be that the specialised 'modules' for infrastructure use are not yet available. It is also reported that the wagons were actually built many months ago and have been in storage on the continent until now. More puzzling is what has happened to the last of the GBRf order. 200 wagons had been ordered, numbered 81.70.4663.201-400, with deliveries starting in September 2023. These continued until the arrival of 81.70.4663.321-340 in March 2024, after which no more have been seen. Could it be that the last 60 wagons have been cancelled? I hope to be able to give more details soon.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Wagon News
Posted on Tuesday 12th November 2024 by Thomas Young

I will be doing some general news round-ups shortly, but here are three recent wagon developments.

A new TOPS code of HRA-G has been applied to seven of the hopper wagons produced by shortening HTA coal hoppers about six years ago. These wagons have been used in glass cullet traffic (basically fragments of broken glass from recycling centres) from Tilbury, alongide some former RMC JGA hoppers. Two of the seven were previously HRA-O outer wagons, the rest HRA-I inners, though the HRA-G code has been applied to all, with just the new design codes of HR001C (inner) and HR001D (outer) providing the distinction.

The program to rebody former MRA side-tipplers as JNA-Y box wagons at Loram, Derby has been completed with a total of 300 wagons dealt with. By the way, see Site News for a development concerning both the HRA and JNA-Y fleets.

The latest issue of Rail Express magazine illustrates the first of 25 KEA-Z box wagons to be cut-down by W H Davis. Although it now looks like a low-sided box wagon (similar to various types used for ballast and spoil), the conversions are reported to be for steel slab traffic for Tata. Interestingly, this will be the second time these wagons have been used for non-bulk loads, as they were originally built to carry cast concrete segments for the Channel Tunnel construction project. This explains why they have TOPS codes in the K group, which is for specialised bogie wagons, whereas most similar box wagons were in the J group. It is not yet known if they will retain the KEA code, or whether modifications will be made to the drawgear (the batch originally featured both inner and outer wagons).

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Wagon news round-up
Posted on Thursday 13th June 2024 by Thomas Young

Wagon news continues to be dominated by bogie box wagons. A new batch of 25 W H Davis-built JNA-V for VTG was delivered in March 2024 (81.70.5932.812-836). A further 35 of the type are on order for an unspecified customer, while GB Railfreight has ordered an additional 50 JNA-X boxes from Greenbrier, delivery being expected towards the end of the year.

The program to rebody MRA side-tippers as JNA-Y box wagons has been progressing steadily. The initial announcement stated that at least 250 wagons would be converted by Loram at Derby, but this number has already been exceeded. A batch numbered up to 81.70.5831.259 was completed in April, though Rail Express magazine reports that the next examples would start a new numbering series from 81.70.5830.251 upwards. There is in any case a limit to how many JNA-Ys can be produced, since the MRA fleet only totalled 400, and some of these are being modified to continue as side-tippers.

Another conversion program has started with 8 MLA box wagons (from the batch 503001-503090) taken to W H Davis for conversion to what is said to be a range of new types.

Delivery of the 400 FEA-G container flat twins for GB Railfreight is nearly complete. 81.70.4663.201-300 arrived in the latter half of 2023, while 81.70.4663.301-340 came in the first 3 months of 2024. There has normally been a delivery of 20 wagons once every 4 weeks, so the last 60 could well have arrived by now.

Wagons withdrawn have included lots of Coalfish (MHA/MPA) boxes and Salmon (YWA) flats. The fleet of MHA/MPAs has been reduced to fewer than 100, with pioneer 394001 now preserved by the National Wagon Preservation Group. Interestingly, not all the Salmon wagons are apparently doomed, with several passing through Stoke works for overhaul. Disposals of MXA bogie box wagons has started. Although the 217 wagons have bodies built less than 10 years ago, the underframes date back to the 1950s.

Back to new wagons and W H Davis has completed design work on a new type to replace the 70-odd PNA wagons used in concrete block traffic by Plasmor. What is interesting about this is that the new wagons are reported to be 2-axle rather than bogie. Bogie wagons have less of an impact on track infrastructure, and recent years have seen the number of 2-axle wagons gradually reducing. Indeed the last that were built new (as opposed to rebuilt) seem to have been the Redland Self-Discharge hoppers built in 1990.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Loco renumberings
Posted on Saturday 30th March 2024 by Thomas Young

While loco renumberings are nowhere near as rife as they were in the 1980s and 1990s, they are still continuing. GB Railfreight is having class 56 diesels rebuilt as 69s, these currently up to 69010 with 6 more planned, while ex-European class 66s are being numbered in the 66306-66316 range, also for GBRf. A recent development is that DB is planning to re-gear 10 of its class 66 locos to have a higher tractive effort, enabling the withdrawal of the remaining class 60s. They will thus be similar to the class 66/6s operated by Freightliner, and with no major number blocks still free, the DB engines will be renumbered as 66651-66660. A temporary renumbering saw LNER 91105 become 91000 in January to mark the 1000th issue of Rail magazine. It reverted to 91105 in February, so I probably won't bother adding 91000 to the database.

In other news, South Western Railway's first class 701 units finally entered service in January, initially between Waterloo and Windsor.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Site news
8 site news items found.
Various updates
Posted on Tuesday 11th February 2025 by Thomas Young

As well as the Wagon News on the left, I have added two new book reviews and two new articles. Actually, the articles are not new, and they are not finished, but they've been sitting in my 'Work in progress' folder for far too long. Hopefully putting them out will give me the impetus to finish them off. By the way, I would always welcome feedback and/or corrections to any of my articles or profiles. This can be by adding notes, or by sending me an e-mail.

The new reviews are:
Speedlink, Volumes 1 and 2 by David Larkin
The Coaching Stock of British Railways - 1972-1982 editions re-issued

The new articles are:
Stock Classification - Locomotives
Stock Classification - Multiple Units

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Renos completed
Posted on Thursday 5th December 2024 by Thomas Young

I have completed inputting the renumberings for the HRA and JNA-Y fleets and the related status updates. This took a bit longer than expected because I am on reduced PC time at present following a back injury (or more accurately, a re-injury). There are several other things in the pipeline, including at least one new wagon profile article. Watch this space.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Unknown renumberings now known.
Posted on Tuesday 12th November 2024 by Thomas Young

A nice surprise in my in-box recently was a list of the renumbering details for the HRA and JNA-Y wagon fleets. Completed in 2019 and 2024 respectively, each type was the result of a sizeable program to rebuild existing wagons (110 HTA hoppers and 300 MRA side-tipplers respectively). However, it appeared that the tie-ups of old numbers to new ones were not known, or at least not published. I mentioned this recently when I encountered problems with how to show renumberings when one part was not known (see Site News 13th June). Now that we have the list, I will be adding the details to the database, with the first 40 HRAs done so far.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Catching up - Photos
Posted on Wednesday 30th October 2024 by Thomas Young

71 photos have been uploaded today, including those received over the past couple of months.

First up are 13 more from the dregs (quality wise) of my 1980s collection.


The Basingstoke rail event of September 1987 brought a unique collection of 'alien' locos to the Southern Region.

New contributor Nick Keegan supplied some photos of preserved wagons at Barrow Hill and The Tanfield Railway.


These two London Transport brake vans carry TOPS numbers LTM95802 and LTM95803, although my records suggest that they are actually LTE95801 and LTE95800 respectively.


Van B755543 was previously internal user 041604 at Sunderland South Dock.

Simon Burrell sent in another collection of excellent photos, mainly from the early 1990s.


10 of the photos are of various variants of MGR coal hopper, a once bog-standard type that has not previously appeared on LTSV.


This Shark appears to have a yellow roof!

Paul Nicholls has been to various locations recently.


This West Midlands class 196/1 was photographed at Shrewsbury.


This class 205/2 driving car is now at the Epping and Ongar Railway.


The large class 720 fleet now covers most of Greater Anglia's services.


The articulated class 777 units are now all in service on Merseyside.

I have also resumed doing database updates, and I have recently added the Clayton-built class 18 and Stadler class 93 and 99 locos.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Some interesting new (and old) photos
Posted on Sunday 14th July 2024 by Thomas Young

I haven't been out with my camera for several months (too busy with buses!), but thankfully several people have sent in their own photos, and today I am uploading a batch of 73.

Paul was in Scotland in April and sent several photos of ScotRail DMUs and HSTs, plus this photo of 66108 in DRS blue livery. I hadn't even realised there were some 66/0s with other operators!


DRS 66108 on an inter-modal at Perth.

Derek caught an interesting train at Hook, this being the Swiss-registered materials handling wagons. Of note, the two hopper wagons are fitted with retractable caterpillar tracks, to enable them to 'crawl' about away from the rails!


The two sets of caterpillar tracks on each side are visible on 99.85.9552.055-7 at Hook in May, thankfully retracted!

Kettles on LTSV-RD! Whatever next? Paul visited the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway in June and sent in photos of most of the resident locos. 46441 has an excuse - it is in our database due to it being assigned a 'shadow' TOPS number (98241).


46441 at Haverthwaite in June

Like Paul, Dan also crossed a border, but he went to Wales. There he photographed some types not yet shown on LTSV, including some depot views of classes that are yet to enter service.


Several class 398 'tram-trains' were seen at the depot in Taff Wells, including class leader 398001.

New correspondent Simon Burrell sent in a bundle of photos which are of particular interest to me (and hopefully to some of you lot too!). All taken in the early 1990s, most show the sort of rolling stock you might find tucked away at the back of a depot or yard, including several internal-users.


Internal user 041831 at Hitchin was an ex-LNER van.


Simon's photos included several exhibition coaches of which the identities are unknown or unconfirmed. If you can help, please get in touch.

Finally, to keep with the 'vintage' vibe, I dipped into Huw Millington's magnificent collection to show a dozen chemicals tank wagons. Tank wagons in general are under-represented on LTSV so I plan to make a return visit soon.


This Tiger Rail chlorine tanker looked positively radiant after attention by Railcar Services.

There will be plenty of new 'key-photo' links to add as a result of these photos (eg from batches, TOPS codes and designs) but I have not done these yet.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
General Update
Posted on Thursday 13th June 2024 by Thomas Young

So far this year, my focus has mainly been on buses (see news of 27/01/2024), but I am trying to get back into the habit of doing regular updates here. Sometimes this will involve old data - for example, I recently improved the information on the class 141 railbuses - while I will also try to keep up to date with new deliveries and other developments. Yesterday I hit a snag with the JNA-Y box wagon rebuilds. Over 250 of these wagons have now been produced from former MRA side-tippers. Unfortunately, the tie-ups between old and new numbers are not known. I wanted to add renumbering records anyway, to highlight the fact that the 'new' wagons were not actually new, and the design of my database does allow for this. However, I discovered that renumberings from or to an unknown number do not display correctly on the number details page. I will have to take a look at this, which is something I am not looking forward to since the code is already very complex.

I am very pleased to see that LTSV-RD has managed to carry on quite well in my absence. The permissions model - whereby newly-joined members become 'trusted' by having their contributions approved (or not) by existing members - seems to be working, and the amount of additions has greatly exceeded my expectations. Three members in particular have been very active (Nat37670, Llamafish and rogue246) and have between them added a staggering 36,026 sightings and 62,390 listings. It is also great to see the quantity of members gradually increasing (currently at 159 activated accounts). The one thing that has perhaps surprised me is that I never really hear from any of these people. I receive a handful of photos each month but otherwise my e-mail in-box hardly gets any rail-related messages. Come to think of it, this might be due to the Contact Us page being a bit temperamental, something which I fixed last month. Do feel free to get in touch if you have any comments about LTSV-RD, or if there is anything you think could be improved.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
The smallest site update ever
Posted on Wednesday 15th May 2024 by Thomas Young

Tonight I have made a correction to the livery information in the profile article on Cartic-4 wagons. I have also revised the Contact Us page to get around some errors. My apologies to anyone who has been unable to contact me using the contact us page in the past! There will be some proper updates soon.

No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.
Some new Profile articles (at last)
Posted on Tuesday 2nd April 2024 by Thomas Young

Profile articles were a major part of the original LTSV Wagons website, but they have been a bit neglected since the switch to the data-driven version of this website (in January 2021), and many are now rather out of date. There is a certain irony here, since one of the main reasons for developing the database was to enable the collation of large amounts of data that could then be used when researching new and updated profile articles!

Anyway, with a bit of help, I have just added three new profiles. William Snook (a member of the National Wagon Preservation Group and the author of the UK Railway Datafile number books) supplied text for the following articles, which I have now turned into profiles with some additional information plus photos and data links.

Profile 63: JPA Bogie Cement Tank Wagons
Profile 64: YCO-A Pilchard Bogie Ballast Sleeper Wagons
Profile 65: HHA Bogie Coal Hopper Wagons

William also supplied information to update one of my earlier profiles:

Profile 4: JSA Covered Steel Wagons (ex Tipplers)

Not only that, but I have added a batch of 31 new photos. Highlights below.


I raided Dan Adkin's collection to cover the various types of class 377 Electrostar units


Nathan photographed a couple of the former Tilcon JGA-K hoppers that were trialled (unsuccessfully) on China Clay traffic last autumn


Paul visited the North West and sent photos of some Avanti Pendolinos and Northern units.


Derek was in Eastleigh (as usual!) and caught a few rare types, including this VGA van.


Dan also supplied three photos of 2-car class 155/1 units, although since the class 155/0 units were all converted to single-car class 153s, these are probably now just plain class 155s!


No notes have been left yet. ?There may be some notes posted but which have not yet been approved.