Colliery Lines

Newdigate Colliery: misc_newd261

A 1980 view looking in the direction of Newdigate Colliery with just one of the three exchange sidings being used to stable British Railways (BR) steel bodied coal wagons. The origins of the BR mineral wagon date back to the Second World War when the Ministry of War Transport placed orders for steel bodied mineral wagons. It was these designs, many of which eventually saw service with BR, which formed the basis for the BR 16 Ton mineral wagon. With a 9 foot wheelbase the wagons feature an end door, to facilitate emptying the wagon by end tipping, a large side door and a smaller drop down flap above it. The early batches also featured bottom doors but this feature was soon discontinued. More than 220,000 of these wagons were built both in BR works and by private builders between 1950 and 1958 and they were still common throughout the BR network well into the 1980s. In the late 1970s many of the wagons remaining in service were fitted with new bodies. The most noticeable difference on these vehicles was the omission of the top drop down door on the wagon side.

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