BR 991124 'Tunny' Ballast Wagon

BRBritish Rail or British Railways 991124 'Tunny' Ballast Wagon
991124 at Bridgnorth in July 2017 (Gareth Price)
Built By	BRBritish Rail or British Railways Swindon
Status	Operational
Number	DB991124
History
Built	1950
Diagram	1/568
Lot	2091
Type	4-wheel ballast wagon
Capacity	20 tons
Telegraphic code	TUNNY
TOPS code	ZCO
1990	Arrived on SVRSevern Valley Railway
Goods Wagons

In the first years after nationalisation, BRBritish Rail or British Railways continued to build Civil Engineers wagons based on designs of the GWRGreat Western Railway and other pre-nationalisation companies while they developed their own standard designs. BRBritish Rail or British Railways 'Tunny' Ballast Wagon DB991124 (TOPS code ZCO) is identical to the final design of GWRGreat Western Railway 20 ton all-steel ballast wagon (Diagram P23 of 1945), having a 20 ton capacity with 3 doors per side and fixed ends, the principal dimensions being a 12ft wheelbase and 21ft 6in length over the headstocksThe underframe member across each end of a wagon carrying the buffers and coupling. Known as the Bufferbeam on a locomotive..

The GWRGreat Western Railway did not allocate telegraph code names to Civil Engineers wagons, but BRBritish Rail or British Railways Civil Engineers wagons were commonly given 'fish' telegraph codes. The name 'Tunny' given to this class of 20 ton ballast wagon (Diagram 1/568) comes from a member of the Tuna family. BRBritish Rail or British Railways went on to adopt the 'Grampus' (Diagram 1/572) as their standard 20 ton design; this had similar dimensions but included end doors. Other smaller GWRGreat Western Railway ballast wagons also continued to be built by BRBritish Rail or British Railways for a short time, with the 10 ton and 14 ton versions being given the names 'Starfish' and 'Ling' respectively. The SVRSevern Valley Railway has a number of GWRGreat Western Railway-built examples of the former type such as 80225.

Service and preservation

DB991124 (the DB prefix indicating a DepartmentalRolling stock used for the railway’s own functions (engineering etc.) rather than for general passenger or goods traffic. vehicle of BRBritish Rail or British Railways origin) was part of a single batch of 120 of these wagons built by BRBritish Rail or British Railways, appropriately at the ex-GWRGreat Western Railway Swindon works, between December 1949 and August 1950 as Lot 2091 to Diagram 1/568..

It arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway on 18 December 1990 from Southall, London, one of seven vehicles owned by Mr J J Smith to be delivered that year. It was put straight into service by the Permanent Way department where it saw regular use as a spoil carrier. Although the SVRSevern Valley Railway News 'Wagon Repair Notes' noted its arrival, no reports of any subsequent repairs or overhauls have appeared since and by 2012 it was stored in Kidderminster Carriage Shed.

Since that time it has been photographed at Bridgnorth in 2017 (main picture) and in course of being repainted and lettered at Arley between May and July 2021 (below). The livery in the latter pictures appears to be something of a compromise, as illustrations in Rowland (1996) and Larkin Vol 1 (2011) suggest that the ex-works livery would have included the BRBritish Rail or British Railways-era 6-digit DB number and BRBritish Rail or British Railways code TUNNY in small lettering but without the large GW logo, while a GWRGreat Western Railway-built example would have a 5-digit wagon number and no telegraph code.

• 

  In course of being painted at Arley in May 2021.

• 

  At Arley in July 2021.

See also

List of Goods Wagons

Links

• 991124 on Railway Heritage Register On-Line
• Gareth Price photo in Kidderminster Carriage Shed in March 2012 on Flickr
• Paul Bartlett photos of TUNNYs in service.