Class B Cattle trucks (Class O before 1900) |
The W.A.G.R. had a total of about 149 class B cattle trucks of at least four different designs. The first group consisted of only ten wagons although it is possible that there was more than one actual design in this group of early stock as two different diagrams are known. These wagons were 17'-0" over headstocks and originally had bell buffers. The first four were built in 1885 (107-110) with a second batch of four in 1888 (178-182) and a final two? (36 and 37) in 1891. 178 was gone by 1900. All of this group were written off by 1903 although 107, 110, 180, and 182 survived to become Jetty wagons 257, 256, 263, and 264 respectively. The picture at right is a detail from State Library of WA image 011078d taken at Gilgai in 1902. This wagon corresponds to a diagram showing a wagon with two sets of doors. There is another diagram with only one set of doors in the centre of the wagon so these first ten wagons might be of two types. Unfortunately no number is visible in the photo. The WAGR outline diagram is shown below. |
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An old photo of Albany showing (amongst other things) four GSR cattle wagons in their pre-1896 livery. It is just about possible to recognise the words GREAT SOUT HERN RAILWAY at the top of the sides in white. |
A second group of wagons of an altogether different design were inherited by the W.A.G.R. when the G.S.R was taken over in 1896. They are believed to have been similar or identical to the MRWA C class cattle trucks. |
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Two cruel enlargements. The image above is enlarged from an old coloured postcard and shows one of the GSR B class cattle wagons at Wagin. The image at left is from State Library of WA 5323B/1060 and shows one of these wagons at Fremantle in about 1905. |
They were much shorter than the W.A.G.R. wagons being only 14'-0" long and were numbered 4358 - 4381 by the W.A.G.R. with 4362 and 4381 being converted to D class goods vans before 1900.
4369 went to the P.W.D. but was returned and re-numbered 629 in 1911. The rest were written off as follows: |
1948 | 4377 written off |
1951 | 629, 4359, 4368 written off |
1953 | 4372 written off |
1954 | 4358, 4364, 4365, 4366, 4367, 4378 written off |
1955 | 4371, 4374, 4376, 4380 written off |
1956 | 4361,4370 written off |
1957 | 4363 written off |
1958 | 4379 written off |
1959 | 4375 written off |
1962 | 4360 written off |
The WAGR outline diagram is shown below. |
However this is not the whole story. Usually a wagon would not be expected to have a life of more than about 30 -40 years, even on the W.A.G.R. so the question arises as to whether these wagons were reconstructed or replaced at some point between about 1900 and 1925. It seems likely that this was the case with replacements being to the standard design on the GB underframe listed below. Confirmation of this for at least one wagon is given by the enlargement below of an old postcard of Albany which dates to some point between 1928 and 1942 showing B436? where the last digit is present but impossible to make out. It now seems likely to me that the GSR cattle vans were replaced by new standard B class wagons at some point between 1900 and 1916 (when construction of class BD started). |
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No cattle trucks were built new on the New Zealand underframe and the first standard design did not arrive until the 1902 15'-0" all steel underframe became available. This third group of wagons were numbered 5858 - 5867 when built in 1902. 5858 became an elephant van in about 1916 and was eventually reclassified as class BD in 1954. 5872 joined this group in 1948 as a conversion of a C class sheep van (alternatively this could have been a new van or a numbering error). It was written off in 1956. Other withdrawals were: |
1951 | 5867 written off |
1954 | 5859, 5861-5865 written off |
1957 | 5860 written off |
1958 | 5866 written off |
The WAGR outline diagram is shown below. |
The fourth group used the GB type 15'-0" wooden underframe. State library of WA photo 010006PD (above) has a nice clear view of B6293 in front of Fremantle power house in 1905. Note that the angled brace in the left hand panel is different between the diagrams, 6293 and 6297 at right. The body work appears to have been almost identical with the previous group. These wagons were numbered rather haphazardly as some were given numbers vacated by scrapped wagons. They were built as follows:
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B6297 under repair in Midland Workshops (WAGR official - RHWA collection) |
Three wagons (6300, 6313 and 9740) became elephant vans in 1929. The WAGR outline diagram is shown below although this seems to reflect the earlier steel underframe B's as the corner posts stop short at the headstock which is drawn as steel channel. In the 1920's replacement of these wagons started with many being converted to (or replaced by) BD class wagons. This most likely involved new timbers and reused ironwork. Most of the survivors were written off in 1954/5 when the new BE class wagons became available although the last survivors (7522 and 9736) lasted until 1964. Conversions to BD were as follows: |
1920 | 6308 to BD |
1921 | 6288, 6291 to BD |
1923 | 6295, 6310 to BD |
1924 | 107, 6309 to BD |
1925 | 100, 6307 to BD |
1928 | 110, 7537 to BD |
1929 | 9742 to BD |
1930 | 90, 6286, 6292 to BD |
1932 | 6299 to BD
6313, 9740 to BD Elephant van |
1933 | 9730 to BD |
1934 | 6300 to BD Elephant van |
1936 | 7525 to BD |
1937 | 113, 116, 9731 to BD |
1941 | 7524 to BD |
1943 | 7518, 9715 to BD |
1944 | 95 to BD |
1945 | 6298, 9733 to BD |
B91 was used on the Hopetoun-Ravensthorpe line but survived the closure and was returned to the main system in 1943. The remainder of the class was written off with most being withdrawn as a result of the construction of the new BE class in 1952/3: |
1935 | 9749 written off |
1942 | 9738 written off |
1948 | 6301, 7515 written off |
1949 | 7529 written off |
1950 | 103, 9748 written off |
1951 | 7530, 9729, 9741, 9752 written off |
1953 | 83, 6285, 7535, 9745 written off |
1954 | 88, 89, 91, 92, 96-9, 101, 108, 109, 111, 114, 115, 117, 179-182, 6289, 6293, 6294, 6296, 6302, 6304, 7517, 7519, 7521, 7527, 7531, 7533, 7536, 9716, 9732, 9735, 9739, 9743, 9746, 9750, 9751 written off |
1955 | 6311, 6312, 6314, 7513, 7514, 7516, 7520, 7532, 9734, 9753 |
1956 | 106, 6297, 6303, 6305, 6306, 7528 |
1957 | 102, 112, 6290, 7534 written off |
1958 | 7523 written off |
1961 | 104 written off |
1962 | 6287, 7526, 9737, 9744 written off |
1964 | 7522, 9736 written off |
The final group of class B cattle wagons was 10107-10116, which were new 16'-0" long vehicles built in 1916. They were the first vehicles in what was to become class BD to which they were reclassified in 1920. One A class horsebox (A5142) was briefly included in Class B when it was converted to a cattle wagon in 1936. In 1937 it was then reclassified BS. Other Cattle trucks The other W.A.G.R.cattle truck classes were BD, BE, BS and the bogie vehicles in Classes T, TA and TAD. |
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