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Stocklist Ex-MoT Hopper Wagons (this page) In later years all of the internal use wagons at Grimethorpe Coalite were 21-ton hoppers. Those on this page had an unusual history involving a French railway company, two world wars and rebodying of the wagons. The story begins in France in 1919 when the French government instructed OCEM to design standard railway vehicles for use by all French railway companies. The Etat Railway KKu design of 1917 was adopted for new vans. During World War Two the British took the decision to build OCEM KKu vans and ship them to France to carry supplies for the British Army. However, France fell to the Germans and the vans became surplus because their bodies were slightly too wide for use in Britain. Many were sent to Turkey and Egypt. But read on to see how the van design morphed into a hopper wagon design. 
Grimethorpe Coalite 6. 9th August 1994. A large amount of unused French style underframe components were in storage in Britain when the decision was taken to build 20-ton hopper wagons to carry iron ore. The obvious thing to do was to build a fleet of wagons made of steel hopper bodies mounted on the French style underframes. These were lettered M O T (for Ministry of Transport). 
Grimethorpe Coalite 146. 9th August 1994. The Coalite company bought a number of these wagons secondhand for internal use. A number were given replacement bodies at their works in Derbyshire.
The unusually long buffers and the slightly unusual axlebox covers are features of these wagons. 
Grimethorpe Coalite 146. 9th August 1994. |
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