JD8 was one of the kerosene tankers in its early days. It is shown here in original livery with silver tank and possibly green or red letters shaded black. The smaller letters appear to be plain black. In later years the JD's were painted plain black. (RHWA Collection photo)

Introduced in 1927, this class of twelve wagons were the first fuel tankers to run on the W.A.G.R. Unlike all of the later tankers they had heavy end stanchions as in contemporary British practice. They were built for the British Imperial Oil Co (later Shell) and numbered 1-12. Originally 4-6 and 9-11 carried petrol with the rest being used for "Cross Power Kerosene". Later 10 and 11 were also used for kerosene. At some later point classifications were issued to privately owned tankers and they became class JD.

JD6 was one of the petrol tankers in its early days. It is shown here in original livery. I'm guessing that the "SHELL" letters are black with shading probably in red. That leaves the colour of the tank which might be a buff colour but could just as easily be something else. the other lettering on the tank appears to be plain black. (Fremantle City Library photo 3914)

The WAGR outline diagram is shown below.

In 1971 JD12 was written off and the tank used to create JBA 12.

In 1975 the rest of the class were written off although JD2 and JD6 were written back. In 1977 JD2 and JD6 were finally written off.

Note:

The Shell Transport and Trading Company and the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company established the British Imperial Oil Company Ltd in Australia as a joint venture in 1905. The British Imperial Oil Company Ltd became The Shell Company of Australia Limited in 1927.