Simon Moore Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Today i purchased a Dapol MBA bogie wagon in EWS livery with the intent of building up a rake of these wagons. I want to know more about the use of the wagon so first stop was wikipedia which only had a photo of one passing Heywood. At first i thought these wagons were used for coal but the photo showed the wagon to have a white stained inside. Could anyone tell me what they are used for & how many of them make up a rake & also are these wagons mixed with the miniboxes that Dapol also do?? Cheers Simon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Could anyone tell me what they are used for Coal Scrap Aggregates At one point they were tried out on timber traffic as well. how many of them make up a rake Depends how many you need to do the job are these wagons mixed with the miniboxes that Dapol also do?? No, the low height MCA/MDA were conversions from the MBA for engineers traffic, so the two fleets now do not work together. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted April 10, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2010 Today i purchased a Dapol MBA bogie wagon in EWS livery with the intent of building up a rake of these wagons. I want to know more about the use of the wagon so first stop was wikipedia which only had a photo of one passing Heywood. At first i thought these wagons were used for coal but the photo showed the wagon to have a white stained inside. Could anyone tell me what they are used for & how many of them make up a rake & also are these wagons mixed with the miniboxes that Dapol also do?? Cheers Simon. MBA's are also used for scrap metal and sometimes stone and even timber. They can run as single wagons, unlike the "minibox" MCA/MDA's that generally run as five-sets MC/MD/MD/MD/MC. MCA are buffer and buckeye fitted and MDA are buckeye only. The MCA/MDA tend to get used in infrastructure work conveying ballast and other p-way stuff. Can't say I've seem Megabox and minibox in the same train, BICBW! Because the MBA's are so big, they could easily be overloaded with stone and other high mass products, such a spoil ballast. But this doesn't mean to say that they aren't used carrying those loads. Martyn Read's excellent photos - edited after his reply! MBA's MCA/MDA's Cheers, Mick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Simon, . One major source of traffic for the DB(S) formerly EWS MBA wagons is scrap metal traffic, especially to Tidal Sidings, Cardiff - for the Celsa steel works next door. . The DB(S) scrap metal flows to Tidal originate form several places. . Here are a few 'consists' for you . 17/10/07 66182 6V06 Saltley-Cardiff Tidal 500018, 500153, 500073, 500163, 500166,500092, 500125, 500038, 500024, 500133, 500098, 500101, 500036, 500045, 500191, 500020, 500062 26/02/08 66091 6V68 Toton - Cardiff Tidal 500015 500190 500024 500149 500179 500168 500010 500140 500041 500153 500159 500156 500055 500155 500087 500045 500048 500065 500186 500072 500025 500077 500038 500196 500018 02/04/08 66197 6V06 Kingsbury-Cardiff Tidal 500183 500047 500119 500181 500185 500017 500133 500062 500118 500092 500036 500008 500141 500101 500130 500058 500097 500167 06/08/08 66186 6M74 Tidal-Beeston 500055 500041 500190 500153 500149 500168 500196 500018 500155 500159 500072 500065 500189 500044 500045 500140 500025 500180 500038 500048 500024 500087 500131 500179 500086 500185 06/08/08 66008 6V06 Kingsbury to Cardiff 500001 500150 500104 500100 500140 500186 500086 500168 500061 500072 500185 500154 500005 500139 500158 500163 The wagons used to work scrap between Dunn Brothers yard in Barry Docks and Tidal, a trip of about 12 miles. It is worth noting that sometimes the wagons without buffers are coupled to those with buffers using the 'swinghead' or 'knuckle' coupler, so there isn't anything wrong with seeing them intermingled. . However, there is usually a need for a 'knuckle' coupler (or 'buckeye') fitted Cl.08 to shunt the wagons, but at Tidal they use a former BRA/BRY steel carrier as a translator/adaptor wagon. . They are emptied using a magnetic crane, and quite often there is a lot of junk left in the bottom of the wagons. . Brian R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted April 10, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2010 Nice pics Brian. How is the outer plate at the end of the wagon bent? (2nd picture) I could understand the internals being bashed about by an electro-magnet, but it looks like the outside has been attacked with a sledge hammer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rope runner Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 Nice pics Brian. How is the outer plate at the end of the wagon bent? (2nd picture) I could understand the internals being bashed about by an electro-magnet, but it looks like the outside has been attacked with a sledge hammer! I'd imagine at some point they are loaded/unloaded with a mechanical grab, and stuff inevitably falls between wagons be interested to know if electromagnets are used at all for these wagons? they are presumably steel themselves and therefore presents a slight problem when unloading with a giant magnet... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 At Celsa the MBA loaded wagons are shunted into one of two scrap unloading bays, where the scrap is unloaded from the wagons using a elctro-magnet suspended from an overhead travelling crane. . The picture shops the old scrap bay which dates from when the plant opened in the mid-70s. and when built had old rails set in the floor to protect the ground from the scrap and magnets etc. . The wagons are placed alongside a high concrete wall, and unloaded by the first crane which dumps the scrap in a pile the other side of the wall from the wagons. . The other crane then lifts varying grades of scrap metal or frag (fragmentised scrap metal) and loads it into a 'basket' which is like a large bucket - and this is moved on a railborne trolley out of the left hand side of the scrap bay as you are looking at it and into the melt shop. The basket is lifted by another crane, and the top removed from the electric arc furnace - the scrap is then dropped out of the bottom of the basket into the furnace. . The magnet can be seen in the one photo, directly in front of the operators cabin of the further crane. . The lid of the furnace is replaced, and electricity is passed through large anodes (?) and the electrical charge/heat melts the scrap metal, which every so often is tapped from the furnace, into what is called in someplaces a 'tundish' which is then poured into a continuous casting machine which produces steel billets about 15m long and usually about 5" square. These can then be rolled into sections, rods, wire etc. . It is said that the plant uses the same amount of electricity as Norwich. This scrap bay is still used, although the furnace adjacent to it is not, a new, larger furnace has been built on the site, with another scrap bay alongside it. . These operations can viewed from outside the plant, albeit the company have taken steps to reduce noise recently, and installed green mesh inside the pallisade fencing around the plant, they have also taken the cladding off the new scrap bay, affording a good view of operations there. . For those interested, the pilot loco shown is 08782 'Castleton Works' and the size of the building can be judged by the loco. . The loco drivers have to check under the wagons for scrap that may have become dislodged during the unloading process - it is apparently not unknown for wagons to become derailed by larger items of scrap, compounded by the sharp curves that lead into and out of this scrap bay. . Hope this helps . Brian R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 Sorry, left off the last photo - which shows the 'new' melt shop, and scrap bay. . The scrap bay is the lower building at the right hand end, and the rail entrance can just be seen. . As with the other scrap bay, wagons are placed in here and the scrap unloaded, and placed in the 'bucket' or 'basket' for transfer into the electric arc furnace, which is the larger building behind. . Further over again, and behind the furnace building (or melt shop) is the billet bank where the cast billets are loaded onto internal railway wagons for transfer to either the Castle Works commonly known as the Cardiff Rod Mill, or to the Section Mill. . The 'south running road' runs just inside and below the blue fence, the weighbridge, and exchange roads to cardiff Tidal Sidings are away to the left, as are Cardiff Docks and the Rod Mill. . The road is called Rover Way, and as this picture was taken at 8.00am on a Sunday the road is never normally as quiet. . Brian R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Moore Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 Thanks everyone for answering my questions & posting the photos. I think this is going to be a interesting rake & project with weathering etc. A scrap train will be a interesting prototype for the layout its just a case of working out how to recreate scrap metal properly??? Maybe some steel turnings from a engineers might be a good place to start. Simon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted April 11, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 11, 2010 As has been mentioned MBAs were used on the Chirk (Kronospan) timbers, hauled by class 56s B) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 not forgetting scrap from exeter,lincoln and swindon.Drove past the latter site on a visit to my sister in law last week - quite modellable. I have seen a photo on the web of MBAs at a location on the west highland to be loaded with timber - think it was a 3766* at the front. Also ran as a one off to newton abbott with aggregates in late 90s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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