In 1902 the first high capacity hopper wagons appeared on the W.A.G.R. They were built in the U.S.A. by Dutilh-Smith, McMillan &Co. The fifty wagons XA class (5894-5943) entered service in 1902 apart from the last (5943) which was issued to traffic the following year. They had a unique type of 5'-0" wheelbase bar-frame bogie and a handrail high up along the side. Another fifty wagons (but this time with 5'-6" wheelbase RB type bogies) were built in 1929 (11129-11162) and 1930 (11163-11178) at Midland Workshops. From 1969 twenty-two of the Midland built wagons were converted to ballast hoppers and reclassified XL as follows:

1969	11130 from XA
1970	11131, 11134, 11138, 11142, 11144, 11147, 11150, 11151, 11153, 11154, 11155, 11157, 11161, 11162, 11163, 11164, 11166, 11167, 11170, 11172, 11177 from XA
1974	11131, 11138, 11142, 11144, 11147, 11150, 11151, 11153, 11154, 11155, 11157, 11161, 11162, 11163, 11164, 11166, 11167, 11177 to XA
1978	XL11134, 11134, 11170, 11172 written off
The WAGR outline diagram is shown below.