This class is another of the early groups which incorporates wagons built to several different diagrams. It is also linked very closely with the early ballast wagons (the class K's were merely H's with drop doors in the floor).

The shorter wagons built for the G.S.R. and MRWA have been successfully separated out on to their own pages. The early Northern Railway mineral wagons also have their own page.

This leaves at least 9 types which I cannot, at the moment, fully separate. There was a significant amount of interchange with the Public Works Department (PWD) and contractors just to make things interesting. Colour coding is used to try and help.

A blow up of an early postcard of Bunbury includes these two low-sided wagons. The left hand one can be identified as H281 but the nearer wagon is more of a mystery with no obvious markings. It is very narrow with the sides built directly above the solebars. It may be a very early Eastern or Northern Railway wagon, possibly ex contractor in restricted use around the Bunbury depot area. Some of Robb's wagons used in the Eastern Railway construction had sides directly above the solebars like this and so it could be one of the "P" class ballast wagons. (A S May collection)

The types left covered by this page are:

1. The early low-sided wagons supplied by Metropolitan RCWCo. As originally drawn by MRCWCo these had 3 plank sides but all of the photos that I have seen show only 2 planks and they may have been assembled like this. These were class J or JW before 1900. They were on the same underframe as the JI class iron lined wagons. Other photos of these wagons in later life in the North West include Battye library photos 011255D and 000929D. The 1881 annual report show an intention to build 40 wagons of this type. 21 were in service by the following year (out of a total wagon stock of 38) increasing to 24 in 1883 (out of 47) and 26 in 1884 (out of 59). The following year this total dropped drastically to 14 (in 116 wagons) and at the same time 11 timber floats, 1 tanker and 26 mineral wagons appeared some of which were obviously conversions. The tanker was most likely F90 which was almost certainly a conversion from this group of low-sided wagons given that its number falls in the middle of a series of low-sided wagons. The Timber floats are not so easy to identify but are likely to have included numbers 13-16 (4) and 60-63 (4) and 111-122 (12) and some of these may be former low-sided wagons. By 1886 the total number of low-sided wagons had reached 18 and must have included those shown in the table below. A total of 27 low-sided wagons appeared in the 1888 report (possibly 192-200 added although 199 was a single bolster wagon by 1897). In 1889 the total was 38, a net increase of 11 which most likely corresponds to the numbers 209, etc. shown below. A second tanker appears in the 1886 report and this may be F98 which if true would, imply that the 1885 batch were numbers 96-104 inclusive. The low-sided wagons surviving in 1897 are known to have been numbered as in the table below although the construction dates are educated guesses. Clearly this is not yet a satisfactory story.

These wagons are all believed to have gone by the time that the wagon record cards started in 1909. The first two lines of the next table show known fates. New construction wagons which took these early numbers follow:

H209 ran until 1937. It is very unlikely to have been the original wagon by 1937 and I think it almost certain that the original wagon was replaced by a new H wagon in 1900-1901 (Type 8 below). The WAGR outline diagram of the Metropolitan RWCo supplied wagons is shown below.

2. The 10 iron lined wagons built in 1891. Their numbers could be mixed up with the wooden wagons above or the ex NZR wagons below. These were class JI before 1900. They were 15'-0" long over headstocks. There is no trace of these wagons in the 1900 renumbering list so they may have been rebuilt to conventional low-sided wagons or other types by then. At present I do not know which numbers these wagons were but there is both documentary and photographic evidence that they existed. Battye library photo 007127 D shows the end of what is probably a Iron JI to the left. It still has the original couplers whilst the wagon to the right (probably an ex NZR T class) has chopper couplers. Thus the photo probably dates to c1892.

3. P class ballast wagons. There were eventually 12 of these numbered P1-12. There may have originally been more. In 1881 there was an intention to construct 16 and by 1882, 14 appears as the total in the annual report. By 1883 the number had settled at 12 and a further 12 authorised in 1884 did not appear as the total remained at 12 thereafter in the reports. By 1900 P2 and P9 were missing. The others were reclassified as H class in 1900 even though class K was set aside for ballast wagons. (P1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 became H1, H4901, H4902, H5, H6, H7, H8, H10, H11, H4917 respectively). These all went before the start of the record cards in 1909 and the numbers were re-used for new wagons as follows:

4. Unfortunately the MRCWCo wagons and the ballast wagons don't appear to be the only early type of lowside. Drawings showing other early wagons include four old wagons on a 14'-1" underframe which were gone by June 1902. The diagram may refer to the remaining Northern railway wagons. There are other early wagons whose configuration is uncertain. The 1900 register includes wagons numbered 21, 34, 42, 4894, 4904, 4910 which all went before 1908 and are likely to have been old in 1900 and of uncertain type. The WAGR outline diagram is shown below.

5. The New Zealand Railways M class wagons imported from 1891-1896. These wagons were 2 planks high with a composite 15'-0" underframe. These became WAGR class T and were the forerunners of all of the NZR type wagons to run in WA. The couplings were changed on other all W.A.G.R. rolling stock to match this type which were the first wagons in WA to use the Norwegian "chopper" type coupling. They were indistinguishable from the later standard H class.

The first purchase was of 100 NZR M class wagons in 1891 followed by a further 27 trucks in 1892. These are believed to be WAGR T283-398 and T529-533 (although this is a total of only 121 wagons it is possible other types were involved in the purchase). In 1896 another batch of NZR M class wagons were purchased from the NZR for £12000. These are likely to have been the wagons with WAGR numbers 3025-3174 (a total of 150). H3050 is confirmed as ex NZR. New Zealand Railways numbers were believed to be as follows (but note that this is a total of 152 wagons).

The State Library of WA photo (BA533/184) below shows two former NZR M class wagons imported from New Zealand. T~313 was one of the early imports and is in grey livery. JW 3081 is more interesting. It appears to be relatively newly painted and in a darker colour. I suspect it is still wearing its NZR Indian red. It also has its number at the right hand end as used after 1900 but has its pre 1900 class letters. It might be that it was importing these wagons that triggered the shift to Indian red after 1900.

The WAGR outline diagram is shown below.

6. The wagons built in Britain to the NZR design. This became the standard H class wagon on the W.A.G.R. These wagons were class J or JW before 1900.  With the ex NZR wagons included there was originally a total of over 1100 wagons of the same type.

They were built as follows:

One of the 1897 Stableford batch. I have not seen any in service photos showing the vacuum pipes sticking above the ends like this where they would be very prone to damage. (Photo RHWA collection)

7. The ballast wagons known as Class V (later K class) were simply standard NZR type wagons with doors in the floor. However, once the K classification went out of use with the wagons either transferred to the PWD or sold, any remaining wagons of this type were either reclassified H or left unclassified.

The photo at right shows a K class ballast wagon in an awkward predicament on the Waroona-Lake Clifton line, probably whilst in PWD ownership. The doors in the floor can clearly be seen. (Photo RHWA collection)

8. The next group are 40 wagons built or rebuilt in 1900-03 with 3 plank sides to the same overall dimensions as the NZR type wagons.  These are very difficult to identify in the list and may be rebuilds of existing NZR type H class wagons. The wagons listed in red numbers are possible candidates for this type. H4558 is believed to have been built in 1902. The WAGR outline diagram is shown below.

9. In addition there was the wooden framed vacuum braked version of type 6 which between 1904 and 1907 ran as class H but then became class HA . These are dealt with on their own page.

10. The final group are the ex contractors and PWD wagons. At this distance in time, unless photographic evidence comes to life it is almost impossible to tie down what type each individual wagon was. Some were definitely standard H class, some were likely to have been former K class ballast wagons, at least one was ex S.A.R. and some were probably early MRCWCo wagons. The best that I can do at the moment is to group them together and await further information.

A very early picture of Midland Workshops with a G class open on the left and another mystery low-sided wagon on the right. It has fixed, very heavily braced, two plank sides directly above the solebars . It is clearly being used to transport rubbish from the workshops construction. Is it a Ballast wagon or a "Jetty stock" wagon? (Photo RHWA collection)

The following table records the known fates of the H class wagons.

331 missing 1897.

17, 21, 34, 42 Listed as lowside. 17 believed to be a standard NZR type wagon.

Possible other wagons of type 8 built at this time 209, 4356? 4570?

3802 to class G

1069, 1070 built as H but to new design with wooden GB type underframe.

141, 1063, 1064, 1069, 1070, 1075, 1077, 1891, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1899, 2079 4248, 4249, 4253 reclassified as HA.

4881, 4882, 4883, 4884, 4885, 4886, 4888, 4889, 4890, 4891, 5095, 5096, 5097, 5098, 5099, 5100, 5101, 5102, 5103 ex Smith & Timms wagons reclassified as L .

1429 problematic..........

34 - number re-used by new D

88, 89, 90, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104 numbers re-used for new B class cattle wagons so these wagons must have gone before 1908.

176 was re-used for a new GD

In 1951 the Port Hedland line closed and the wagons there were transferred to the PWD.

From 1952/3 construction of replacement low-sided wagons began with the HC and HD classes. Inevitably this lead to H class wagons being written off.

During the early 1950's wagons 17, 1212, 2259, 2499, 3142, 3153, 3980, 4209, 4295 and 4518 were converted to ballast ploughs which are discussed on a separate page. They are also listed below on this page in Italics.

Ballast plough H2499 at Narrogin in the early 1980's. (Photo A S May)

145, 258, 558, 914, 955, 992, 1019, 1232, 1282, 1502, 1516, 1533, 1534, 1537, 1997, 2006, 2248, 2297, 2309, 2322, 2357, 2390, 2422, 2774, 3041, 3900, 3990, 4000, 8787, 8788, 8793, 8794, 8795, 8797, 8801, 8803, 8821, 8822 to PWD Port Hedland

326 , 1052, 1255, 1498, 1937, 2404, 4013 written off

1219, 2776 later written back

2430 to JETTY 201

924, 2420, 2433, 2747, 3075, 4209, 4353 written off

2776 written back

897, 967, 990, 1238, 1513, 2251, 2306, 2318, 3051, 3052, 3104 to class N

1150 to JETTY stock 913

1203, 1268, 1529, 1933, 2289, 2296, 2395, 2427, 3066, 3707, 3929, 4118, 4517 written off

1219 written back

1514 to JETTY stock 47

283, 300, 911, 962, 973, 976, 1018, 1033 , 1214, 1218, 1222, 1256, 1277, 1290, 1935, 1947, 1951, 1993, 2001, 2007, 2282, 2313, 2340, 2344, 2377, 2382, 2405, 2418, 2421, 2442, 2779, 3046, 3156, 3167 , 3956, 3999, 4065, 4146, 4515 written off

2420 written back

896, 968, 1054, 1083, 1224, 1276, 1291, 1292, 1419, 1505, 1538, 1984, 1987, 2287, 2332, 2359, 2375, 2392, 2409, 2412, 2775, 3036, 3160 , 3724, 3949, 4004, 4055, 4077, 4119, 4129, written off

309, 913 to class NS

2004, 2776, 3128, 3913, 3955 to class HW

1034, 1264, written off

1969, 2005, 2281, 3059, 3138 written off

2348 to JETTY stock but listed as both 807 and 847! One of these was probably one of the other write offs above.

948, 1996, 2260 to class HW

941, 2394, 2786, 3035 to class NS

928, 1047, 2419, 4295, 4570, 4899 written off.

292, 302 , 916, 945, 960, 1206, 1283, 1497, 1504, 1507, 1936, 2258, 2326, 2328, 2411, 3063, 3153, 3171 , 3911, 3925, 3928, 3998, 4029 written off

2767, 3053 to Ash wagons

529, 2290 to JETTY 181 and 179

1027, 1207, 1267, 2353, 3944 to ash wagons

2293 written off

315, 316, 957, 1151, 2262, 2388, 2752, 3029, 3116, 3972, 4907 written off

303, 304 , 925, 1242, 1950, 2265, 2748, 3106, 3115 , 3947, 4001, 4002, 4005, 4031, 4082, 4135 written off