Classes TA and TAD

Classes TA and TAD

The TA class bogie cattle truck were built as a batch of 90 wagons numbered 23601-23690 in 1954 by R.Y. Pickering. The class did not remain intact for long and in 1956 six of these wagons: 23612, 23623, 23653, 23661 and 23681 were converted to QC class bolster wagons. The following year another 10 became class QCF class flat top wagons: 23609/9, 23621/6, 23637, 23662/5, 23679, 23687/8. Another six were converted to SXT class sheep wagons in 1960 (23616, 23624, 23634, 23654, 23676, 23684) followed by 4 more in 1961 (23610/3, 23642, 23672).

Three wagons were altered to have two sets of doors per side (23639, 23670, 23680) and were reclassified TAD in 1961. Another two were similarly altered in 1972 (23630, 23682).

Conversion to QCF class flat wagons continued in 1962 (23620, 23638, 23640/4/5/8/9, 23650/7/8, 23667, 23673/5/7/8, 23685/6). Another class of flat wagon, QBE, was the involved in the conversion of 23629, 23674 in 1977 and 23622, 23652 in 1978.

In 1979 23632 was the first of the class to be written off as such. Conversion to class QF followed for 23611 and 23671 in 1980. More withdrawals followed in 1983 when a further ten TA class wagons (23602, 23614, 23628, 23633/5, 23641/6, 23656, 23663, 23689) were written off and one TAD (23680). In 1985 Westrail withdrew from the livestock business and from then on these wagons were all redundant. One of the written off TA's (23641) formed the basis for a QK class wagon in 1987 and another conversion to QK followed in 1989 (23640). The remaining TAD class wagons were eliminated in 1990 (23639, 23670, 23682, 23630). Further withdrawals were as follows:

1990	TA 23607, 23608, 23636, 23651, 23668, 23683
1991	TA 23601, 23603, 23605, 23615, 23617, 23618, 23619, 23625, 23627, 23631, 23643, 23647, 23655, 23659, 23660, 23664, 23666, 23669, 23690

Other Cattle trucks

The W.A.G.R.'s other cattle trucks were classes B, BD, BE, and BS, and the older bogie vehicles in Class T.