YH Side-door Hopper Wagon
YH Side-door Hopper Wagon |
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| Class | YH |
| Vehicle type | 4-wheel side door hopper wagon |
| First introduced | 1913 |
| To Port Lincoln | 1926 |
| Ex Port Lincoln | 1986 |
| Load capacity | 16 tons (1964: 17 tons) |
| Number on Eyre Peninsula | 49 |
| Vehicle numbers | YH4904, 4906-4909, 4911-4912, 4916-4923, 4928-4929, 4932-4933, 4935, 4937-4938, 4941-4946, 4949-4950, 4952, 4956-4957, 4960-4967, 4970-4971, 4973-4978 |
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These vehicles were originally a modified form of the Yx open wagon, with extra side doors and a peaked floor for unloading bulk commodities. Forty-nine were converted from broad to narrow gauge and transferred to Port Lincoln in 1926. They were used for gypsum traffic from Kowulka (at the end of the aerial ropeway from the gypsum fields) to Thevenard. The ropeway only operated from 1926 to 1930.
4918, 4921, 4944, 4957, 4960 and 4970 were converted to RN insulated vans in 1937-38. In 1955 the forty-three surviving vehicles received completely new bodies, and in 1966 the sides and ends of these vehicles were extended. These vehicles were used for loco coal, phosphate rock, superphosphate and ballast. 4973 and 4974 converted to YF flat wagons, all others condemned by 1985. |
The final form of the YH class, with rebuilt body and extended sides, is represented by YH4966 at Port Lincoln in February 1986. Photo: Peter Knife |
YH wagons 4973 and 4957 are in their original form at Port Lincoln in 1950. Newly-arrived immigrant workers are unloading loco coal. Photo courtesy EPRPS Archives |
YH4976 has come to grief at a siding on the Kimba line in 1963/64, but shows off clearly the 1955 body rebuild. Photo: Bill Lewis |
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The top diagram shows the original form of the YH wagons.
The diagrams above and at the right show the final configuration of the YH - the 1955 rebuilds were identical except for the extensions which are clearly discernible in the photo of YH4966 above. |
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