This profile covers the Standard Railfreight fleet of 4-wheeled scrap metal open wagons, all of which were later bought by BR. The prototype of the fleet appeared in 1978 and was similar to the BR-owned MFA wagons built two years earlier in that it had a tall plain box body with six vertical ribs on each side (the MFAs had five). The two designs also shared the small doors that enabled sweeping out when empty. Loading and unloading would be by grab or electro-magnet. Numbered RLS5900 as a POA-S to design code PO010A, the wagon had BSC (sometimes quoted as ESC) Friction Pedestal Suspension units, a 4570mm wheelbase and was 8440mm long (over buffers). Initially painted in a yellow livery with Railease lettering, it later gained the blue with yellow ends livery of the production type. In about 1986 it was rebodied by Standard Wagon (where it had been built) with a stronger body featuring nine vertical ribs on each side.

The first production batch appeared in 1982, again from Standard Railway Wagon's Heywood works and numbered as RLS5901-5920 to design code PO010B. Compared to the prototype, these wagons had a slightly increased length (wheelbase and overall), Gloucester Pedestal suspension units, and the box bodies featured an additional horizontal rib half way up each bodyside and end (although these were not carried around the corners). A new livery was applied featuring light blue bodysides and underframes (apparently the Barclays house blue, due to connections with the leasing company), and yellow ends and top capping. The letters SR were carried on the body, not for a resurrection of the Southern Railway, but for the owners Standard Railfreight.

This batch was evidently successful as Standard Wagon built a further 160 similar wagons in 1984. RLS5921-5980 were fully new builds, comprising 30 to design code PO010C (with Gloucester Pedestal suspension units) and 30 to PO010D (with Gloucester Floating Axle Mk.IV units). The Metro Enterprises PO wagons book of 1989 lists these as RLS5921-RLS5950 and RLS5951-RLS5980 respectively, though photos suggest there was a bit of mixing.

RLS5000-5099 (design code PO014A) used underframe components from the short-lived British Steel fleet of PGA Iron-Ore Hoppers (BSRV12500-12599, although not renumbered in order). These had BSC Friction Pedestal suspensions, a stepped solebar and wheel-operated handbrakes, all the others being lever. The bodywork on both batches was slightly different to the first 20 in that the horizontal ribs at the top and mid-height of the bodies now continued around the corners, while there was a further rib around the base of the body. The access door was replaced by narrow slots underneath this lower rib. Livery was the same blue and yellow and the type could be seen in block and Speedlink trains in many parts of the country, their main role being to supply scrap metal to British Steel works in the Sheffield and Rotherham area.

A modification made to these wagons quite early on was to fit fillets to the top and middle horizontal ribs. These were to prevent the build up of swarf. The bodies also had fairly prominent lifting lugs under the top lip of the body. It is thought this was to enable the bodies to be easily lifted off the underframes for repair or replacement. Scrap metal is a rough traffic and many of the bodies were soon a bit bashed and bruised.

In one of the first cases of its kind, the entire fleet was bought by BR in 1990 and given new TOPS code SSA-A. The numbers were changed to 470000-470180 in the air-braked series, while the design codes were SS001A/B/C/D (ex PO010A/B/C/D) and SS002A (ex PO014A). Lot number 4070 was issued to cover the change of ownership. Apart from altering the numbers and TOPS codes the only visual change was the painting out of the SR lettering, and the wagons initially continued working on scrap metal traffic centred on Tinsley (Sheffield).

The first major change in traffic use took place in 1992 when some of the SSA wagons were trialled on coal services. They were hired to British Coal Opencast and used from various locations in Scotland, the North East of England and the Midlands. Later that year, 40 of the wagons were assigned to a pool for opencast coal traffic in South Wales. The transfer led to the allocation of a new TOPS code of MHA-A (Mineral, Open Box, ex SSA, 35 tonne carrying capacity) by early 1993, and at least two wagons were reported with MHA codes and Coal Sector logos. However, it would appear that the change was never officially recognised and no associated design codes have been reported. The wagons instead remained as SSAs, though the MHA-A code was soon re-used and applied to a large fleet of ballast wagons rebuilt from MGR coal hoppers from 1997 onwards.

In spring 1994 BR's Railfreight operation was split into 3 regional companies, as a precursor to privatisation. The SSA fleet was divided between Trainload Freight North East and Trainload Freight West, these companies soon being rebranded as Loadhaul and Transrail respectively. Loadhaul launched a dramatic black and orange livery, but this is not believed to have been applied to any of the SSA wagons. Transrail had a more conservative mid-grey livery for its wagons, and at least one SSA was so repainted, with a couple also gaining T prefixes to their existing stock numbers. Another development in 1994 was that the first few examples of the SSA type were withdrawn, and the fleet has seen a very gradual reduction in numbers ever since.

The new Railfreight companies proved to be short-lived, as all three were bought by US Railroad Wisconsin Central in early 1996 and re-merged to form EWS (English Welsh and Scottish Railway Company). A new livery of dark red with yellow highlights was devised and was applied to at least one of the SSA fleet (470158). Many of the wagons were in fairly bad shape after years of loading and un-loading by electro-magnets or grabs. The new owners decided to embark on a rebodying program, and contracted RFS at Doncaster to fit new bodies to 50 (later extended to 170) of the SSA wagons. The new bodies were similar in configuration to the old ones, with vertical and horizontal external ribs for strength. However, all the ribs had fillets on both sides, avoiding any sharp recesses where scrap fragments could lodge. This gave the wagons a somewhat curious 'panelled' appearance. The bodies were painted in EWS red with yellow top capping, red also being applied to the bufferbeams, while the solebars and suspension units were black.

Emerging in 1997 and 1998, the rebodied wagons retained the SSA-A TOPS code but gained new design codes. The former PGA conversions (470000-470099) were changed from SS002A to SS002B, while the new-builds to designs SS001B/C/D became SS001F/G/H respectively. Note the omission of code SS001E. This may have been kept aside for the rebodying (again) of the SS001A prototype, although this never took place and 470100 remained with its unique body until at least 2011. About a half-dozen other SSA wagons also missed out on the rebodying program, the last two of which appear to have been withdrawn in about 2008 and 2010.

With coal traffic drastically reduced, the SSA fleet mainly kept to its original use of carrying scrap metal. However, the type was suitable for various other flows. In 2020 the type made a rare appearance in the South East when it was used for a long-distance flow of aggregates for Norris between Angerstein Wharf in London and Scunthorpe. This allowed me to photograph the type for the first time, though the traffic soon went over to bogie wagons. The fleet by this time was down to about 80 wagons, of which 20 were reported stored out of use. It was notable that the condition of the bodywork on many of the wagons was becoming rather poor!

There were still developments in the fleet, and at least three new design codes were issued in about 2009. 2 wagons changed from SS001G to SS001K, 5 wagons from SS001H to SS001L and 2 from SS002B to SS002C. The reasons for these changes are not known, but they were probably minor modifications. Of note is that the three SS001L wagons that I photographed all had labels for Henry Orchard Scrap Metal Merchants of St Austell, not seen on any other examples. Note also the omission of design code SS001J. Again this may have been kept aside for any SS001F wagons that received the modification, keeping the blocks of codes in the same order.

A more recent change appears to have taken place in 2021, this being the introduction of new TOPS code SSA-B to distinguish those wagons with lever-operated brakes. All surviving wagons in the 470100-470180 range (with lever brakes and design codes in the SS001x series) were recoded SSA-B, while the remainder (470000-470099 range, handwheel-operated brakes and SS002x design codes) remained as SSA-A. This appears to be part of a tidying-up exercise and similar changes were made to other types such as the BDA Bogie Bolsters and derived types such as the MXA bogie box wagons.