The L class ballast hoppers have one of the most complicated histories of any type of WAGR wagon despite only involving about 200 wagons. It is not helped by the fact that several distinctly different types are lumped together in the same class.

Whilst this may not have mattered to the traffic department it does make life difficult (or fascinating depending upon how you look at it) for the historian.

What follows has probably got errors in it but without more photographic evidence is the best that I can manage at present.

A blow up from State Library of WA photo 007128d showing an early all metal L class wagon. Sadly the number is unreadable.

It all started very simply. A batch of twenty 5 ton hopper wagons were built in 1894 and numbered 995 to 1014. Originally they were class U. Another batch, this time of 40 wagons numbered 1355 - 1394 entered service in 1895. A single larger 6 ton hopper numbered 2066 was built in 1898. This is where the complexity starts. The 1903 diagrams show 4 different ballast hopper diagrams. One of these is the six ton wagon easily identified as 2066. The WAGR outline diagram for L2066 is shown below.

The other three diagrams are:

1. A wooden bodied hopper with dropside doors on a NZR type composite underframe. (L1)

2. A steel bodied hopper with dropside doors on a steel underframe. (L2)

3. A steel bodied hopper on a steel underframe without side doors. (L3)

I believe that the 995-1014 batch were probably wooden bodied wagons (based I think on a NZR design).

To add to this already difficult situation ballast hoppers were both sold out of WAGR service and bought back from contractors in these early years. Thus by the end of June 1899 the WAGR stock of ballast hoppers was down to 15 wagons (from 60!) numbered 999, 1008, 1010, 1011, 1013, 1359, 1361, 1362, 1364, 1368, 1370, 1372, 1373, 1377 and 1394. Giving (I think) at least 5 wooden bodied wagons and maybe 10 steel bodied ones. The wagons that were disposed of almost certainly went to railway construction contractors and the Public Works Department (PWD). A new number (1314) is also on the 1900 list and the numbers 1355-1358, 1360, 1363, 1365-1367, 1369, 1371, 1374 -1376, 1378 were again on the departmental list giving a solid block of numbers from 1355-1378. It is unclear whether these were the original wagons regaining their old WAGR numbers or not. 1369 at least was one of the steel type L3 without side doors as shown in the WAGR official view from the RHWA collection below.

In 1900 the WAGR bought twenty ballast hoppers from the contractors Smith & Timms (it seems likely that Smith & Timms had bought many of them from the WAGR in the first place). These were given new numbers at the end of the list:

4881-4891 ex Smith &Timms numbers 1, 3, 4, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 29 and 32

5095- 5103 ex Smith & Timms numbers 2, 5, 7, 8, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 37.

Why were they numbered in two groups? There are at least two possibilities i.e., they were acquired in two batches or they were of two distinct types. Interestingly L4883 and L4884 are listed as having South Australian type underframes. This suggest that more than two types were probably involved.

From 1900 to 1903 the ballast hoppers were classified K along with the dropside ballast wagons (basically H class wagons with bottom doors). Thankfully this extra element of confusion didn't last long and from 1903 they were class L.

Numbers 1011 and 4887 had gone by 1909 and at this point the stock consisted of 24 wooden bodied hoppers on composite underframes (up from 19 in 1908, 21 in 1902 and 20 in 1900), 8 all steel hoppers with dropsides (down from 9 in 1908, 10 in 1901 and 20 in 1900) and 17 all steel hoppers with fixed sides (down from 21 in 1900) according to the WAGR diagrams.

The full list of L class wagons in 1909 when the record cards start was:

999, 1008, 1010, 1013, 1314, 1355 - 1378, 2066, 4881, 4882, 4883, 4884, 4885, 4886, 4888 - 4891, 5095 - 5103.

It is more or less impossible to distinguish which of these wagons was of which type from this muddle without a lot more information.

This process seems to have taken a particularly heavy toll of the wagons with the South Australian type underframes with eight out of the thirteen being rebuilt. Some may not even have run in WAGR service before being rebuilt. None of the PWD wagons with wooden underframes were involved suggesting that these may have been relatively new wagons at the time. It is distinctly possible that other unrecorded rebuildings also took place. The rebuilds are shown in the following tables in red.

A group of twenty wagons (614, 619, 647, 659, 702, 730, 883, 1114, 1382, 1463, 2317, 2467, 2720, 2975, 3033, 10050, 10051, 10058) were converted to carry bulk wheat in 1945 by the addition of 5 wooden planks to the top of the hopper and reclassified LW. One wagon was written off as an LW (2317) but all of the rest returned to class L in 1950 once more suitable wagons were available for the wheat traffic.

The table below sums up the disposal of the class.

Note that JETTY 350 was an ex L wagon missing at the 1963 stocktake. It is recorded as L623 but L623 was not written off until 1972!

The WAGR official image image at right from the RH WA collection shows either L3033 or L3074 immediately behind an LX class ballast plough. This wagon is one of the L2 type as defined at the top of this page