MGR Saving Appeal - Can you help?

[fgwrich]

From the Class 56 group.

MGR Appeal - Can you help?
The Class 56 preservation group is backing a plan to preserve several of the last remaining MGR wagons.
There are now only around 20 examples remaining and are being disposed of quickly.
The class 56 and 58 groups have lent their backing to the project with the 56 group having agreed to act as a depository for donations specifically for the appeal and set them aside to try and purchase as many examples of MGR as possible. A home has also been found in the midlands for any wagons which are preserved. Scrap prices currently mean the value of a wagon is around £3700 from scrap Merchants who are disposing of them.
Talks have also been started with DB Schenker who own the last remaining wagons and are positive so far. Richard Prestidge from the appeal said
“There are very few of these wagons left and time is running out for them quickly. They are possibly the most iconic wagon built in the last 50 years and their place in the lineage of the history of railways and coal carrying is easy to see. There were over 10,000 of them at one time to the 20 odd we have now with only 2-3 being officially considered preserved.”
It is intended once preserved to use them as an educational resource to explain with other wagon types the history of coal carrying by rail, and also for photo charters if a short rake can be saved alongside appropriate locomotives types.
Anyone who wishes to make a donation is asked to make cheques payable to
Class 56 Group (MGR Appeal)
61 TYERSAL PARK
BRADFORD
W.YORKS
BD4 8EY
or pay via paypal at kbulmer(at)talktalk.net (with the (at) replaced by @ )
http://www.nrm.org.uk/globalmedia/pic_1995-7852_2.png

I think it'd be great to see some HAA/HBAs saved to run with preserved 20s/37s/47s/56s/58s and even Class 60s when the times comes for them, otherwise we risk preserving the locos and not preserving any original stock to run with them - the last time a situation came around like this was the 'Windcutter' in the 1990s for the equivalent BR 16 ton Mineral wagons, hopefully it wont come to this for the HAA/HBAs but there's not a lot of time sadly.

 

[yec2521]

Time is not on our side with this appeal guys. Please dig deep. Once they're gone, they're gone.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I know that one has been saved for the national collection but that is not enough when you look at the wind cutters at the GCR. I've already donated; growing up in the East Midlands coal fields during the 1970's / early 1980's those HAA's hold a lot of memories.

Just one question, why have we left it so late!!! We have known for a long time that the HAA's were on the way out; at least ten years!

 

[455driver]

Just one question, why have we left it so late!!! We have known for a long time that the HAA's were on the way out; at least ten years!

Probably because everyone assumed somebody else would save them!

 

[sprinterguy]

Just one question, why have we left it so late!!!

The Class 58 Loco Group set up an "MGR Wagon Fund" a few years back. However, I can only assume that this has fizzled out while the group focus their attentions on restoring 58016, because even as long ago as 2011 everything had gone quiet on that front, and now when I try to follow the old link I find that the page has been deleted.

In a similar fashion to RichmondCommuter in the East Midlands, growing up in the North East of England I must probably have seen hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of these wagons. They were a ubiquitous and familiar part of the railways of the day and synonymous with the extensive coal industry in the area, though that industry was contracting before my very eyes (I remember watching the Wearmouth Colliery winding towers being demolished in 1994). I'll have a root around and find something to donate to this worthy cause. It's just a shame that it has been left so late.

 

[YorkshireBear]

My budget simply can't stretch to anything at the moment, shame as 6 months ago i could have given £50 or so.

 

[yec2521]

I agree it has been left late but like you say it was a case of someone else will do it but I decided that if no one else was i'd have a go at trying to organise something. I'm Richard P that's quoted in the press release above by the way. I speak with Keith Bulmer most days about any new developments that have arisen or news regarding the last remaining MGR's. Unfortunately and this is not a criticism just a fact but many people are more interested in the loco's than the stock hence why we are so poorly represented by post 1968 goods vehicles.

 

[YorkshireBear]

I find it a shame, i have an interest in the wagons used by P-way and these seem to be more represented due to their usefulness on heritage lines.

 

[Teaboy1]

I am outside Blighty at moment so cannot send anything except PP but I do remember last time I saw them clearly & what an odd rattle they made when empty!!
Youtube & search SYJR MGR.
£3700 seems a lot considering their weight and build but I assume they were over-engineered. 4 wheels, 2 axles, 4 bearings, brakes, chassis and hopper plus door mecho not much other than that.
What next to enter the endangered list ? Todays stuff soon becomes out-of-date!

 

[wbbminerals]

It's a shame that some could not be donated by Schenker? After all they are an important part of UK railway history.

 

[455driver]

DBS are a business, the remaining MGRs have a residual value as scrap.

 

[wbbminerals]

£74000 (20 MGRs at £3700) is not a lot of money for anything on the railway. I have seen it stated that a simple DDA-compliant footbridge can cost around a million pounds for example! Surely that would be a fair price for a bit of good PR for the company? There is then however still the issue of transporting and storing them.

 

[Teaboy1]

Exactly .... DBS wont "give away" £3700 per truck just like that !!

 

[yec2521]

As I said discussions with DB Schenker are ongoing.

Rich

 

[Bonemaster]

I think the time to save any number is gone, by my reckoning there are just 11 left on DBS books according to the system, I believe of those 4 are not where TOPS says they are, one more is doubtful, another is on a plinth at Knottingley Depot, and one is collision damaged in a bush, leaving just 4 or 5 possibles, plus 3 more I believe are owned by Bombardier at Derby Works.

 

[yec2521]

The ones are Derby at still owned by DB Schenker. Enquired to bombardier last week about them. According to info on another forum we reckon there are possibly about 20ish left. Some at Toton, Ayr, Newport amongst others. Plus some china clay cda's. If anyone has any info about any they know of can they PM me please and I'll pass info on.

 

[RichmondCommu]

I think the time to save any number is gone, by my reckoning there are just 11 left on DBS books according to the system, I believe of those 4 are not where TOPS says they are, one more is doubtful, another is on a plinth at Knottingley Depot, and one is collision damaged in a bush, leaving just 4 or 5 possibles, plus 3 more I believe are owned by Bombardier at Derby Works.

I'm interested to know how three of the remaining HAA's have ended up at the Bombardier plant at Derby. Are they used as barrier wagons for shunting new build stock?

 

[yec2521]

I'm interested to know how three of the remaining HAA's have ended up at the Bombardier plant at Derby. Are they used as barrier wagons for shunting new build stock?

Yes in a word

 

[MC155]

Seems a shame they are hardly any MGR HAA's around anymore, and it is indeed a good idea to try and preserve the last remaining ones. Does anyone know what happened to the HEA wagons that used to carry domestic house coal to depots around the country in the 1980's?

 

[Bonemaster]

Seems a shame they are hardly any MGR HAA's around anymore, and it is indeed a good idea to try and preserve the last remaining ones. Does anyone know what happened to the HEA wagons that used to carry domestic house coal to depots around the country in the 1980's?

HEA wagons are no longer used the last flowing having been I believe coke from Redcar to Scunthorpe. Around 42 still exist plus 4 that are now CEA's. Many were converted into MEA box wagons.

Most are stored in Tees Yard, but also a number at Neville Hill and one at Bletchley

 

[Exeter]

There's two at Alexandra Dock Junction with something growing in them!!

 

[yec2521]

what haa's or hea's?

 

[Exeter]

HAA's

 

[andypops]

There's two at Alexandra Dock Junction with something growing in them!!

They've been around there for years, occasionally popping up before disappearing again...but I agree, they are a bit more visible now! Judging by the height of the vegetation within I would imagine they are in need of some TLC.


I haven't seen them move from their current position in over 8 months (possibly longer). They seemed to have been dumped in their current spot after all of the earthworks for that awful housing development were done.

Just looking on google maps, there appears to be a rake of four probable candidates at 51°33'33.08"N, 2°58'26.15"W. I can't tell what they are from above though. Their current position is at 51°34'19.84"N, 3° 0'24.10"W.

Scouting round the whole docks, they aren't visible using the streetview though.


Tried using Bing Maps to spot them at those coordinates (they tend to have better not-birdseye views) but their pictures are well out of date...ADJ is a bustling metropolis; you can spot HA(A/B)'s in service, 08/09s and even brake vans!