b_wagon

Class B (Class O before 1900)

The W.A.G.R^YS had a total of about 149 class B cattle trucks of four different designs.

The first group consisted of only ten wagons. These wagons were 17'-0" over headstocks and originally had bell buffers. The first four were built in 1885 (107-110) with a second batch of four in 1888 (178-182) and a final 2? (36/7) in 1891. 178 was gone by 1900. All of this group were written off by 1903 although 107,110, 180, and 182 survived to become Jetty wagons 257, 256, 263, and 264 respectively.

A second group of wagons of an altogether different design were inherited by the W.A.G.R^YS when the G.S.R was taken over in 1896. They are believed to have been similar to the M.R.W.A. C class cattle trucks. They were much shorter than the W.A.G.R. wagons being only 14'-0" long and were numbered 4358 - 4381 by the W.A.G.R^YS with 4362 and 4381 being converted to D class goods vans before 1900. 4369 went to the P.W.D. but was returned and re-numbered 629 in 1911. The rest were written off as follows:

The above image is enlarged from an old coloured postcard and shows one of the GSR B class cattle wagons at Wagin.

1948	1951	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1962
4377	629, 4359, 4368	4372	4358, 4364-67, 4378	4371/4/6, 4380	4361,4370	4363	4379	4375	4360

No cattle trucks were built new on the New Zealand underframe and the first standard design did not arrive until the 1902 15'-0" all steel underframe became available. These wagons were numbered 5858 - 5867 when built in 1902. 5858 became an elephant van in about 1916 and was eventually reclassified as class B^D in 1954. 5872 joined this group in 1948 as a conversion of a C class sheep van (alternatively this could have been a new van or a numbering error). It was written off in 1956. Other withdrawals were:

1951	1954	1957	1958
5867	5859, 5861-5865	5860	5866

The fourth group used the GB type 15'-0" wooden underframe. The body work appears to have been almost identical with the previous group. These wagons were numbered rather haphazardly as some were given numbers vacated by scrapped wagons. They were built as follows:

B6297 under repair in Midland Workshops (WAGR official -ARHS collection)

1904	108/9, 179-182
1905	6285 - 6314
1907	83/8/9, 90-92, 95-99, 100-104, 107, 110-117
1911	115,7513-7537
1912	9715/6
1913	9729 - 9753

Three wagons (6300, 6313 and 9740) became elephant vans in 1929.

In the 1920's replacement of these wagons started with many being converted to (or replaced by) BDclass wagons. Most of the survivors were written off in 1954/5 when the new BE class wagons became available although the last survivors (7522 and 9736) lasted until 1964. Conversions to BD were as follows:

1920	1921	1923	1924	1925	1928	1929	1930	1932	1933	1936	1937	1941	1943	1944	1945
6308	6288 6291	6295 6310	107 6309	100 6307	110 7537	9742	90 6286 6292	6299	9730	7525	113 116 9731	7524	7518 9715	95	6298 9733

B91 was used on the Hopetoun-Ravensthorpe line but survived the closure and was returned to the main system in 1943. The remainder of the class was written off with most being withdrawn as a result of the construction of the new BE class in 1952/3:

1935	9749
1942	9738
1948	6301, 7515
1949	7529
1950	103, 9748
1951	7530, 9729, 9741, 9752
1953	83, 6285, 7535, 9745
1954	88,89,91/2/6-9, 101/8/9, 111/4/5/7, 179-182, 6289, 6293/4/6, 6302/4, 7517/9, 7521/7, 7531/3/6, 9716, 9732/5/9, 9743/6, 9750/1
1955	6311/2/4, 7513/4/6, 7520, 7532, 9734, 9753
1956	106,6297, 6303/5/6, 7528
1957	102, 112, 6290, 7534
1958	7523
1961	104
1962	6287, 7526, 9737, 9744
1964	7522, 9736

The final group of class B cattle wagons was 10107-10116, which were new 16'-0" long vehicles built in 1916. They were the first vehicles in what was to become class BD to which they were reclassified in 1920.

One A class horsebox (A5142) was briefly included in Class B when it was converted to a cattle wagon in 1936. In 1937 it was then reclassified BS.

Other Cattle trucks

The W.A.G.R.'s other cattle trucks were classes BD, BE, BS and the bogie vehicles in Classes T, TA and TAD.