A classic view of a rake of CDAs at Lostwithiel on September 15, 2020, as the clay train from Rocks passes the late running Aberthaw to Moorswater cement train, which ceased operation a few months later. Both flows utilised four-wheel wagons and following the withdrawal of the CDAs in August, PCA wagons have become one of the last four-wheel wagon fleets in revenue service.
PHOTOS BY PAUL STANFORD UNLESS STATED
AS we near the 200th anniversary of public railways, the days of the humble four-wheel freight wagon – which have existed since the very earliest railways – are now definitely numbered in revenue service in Britain.
One step closer came in August with the end of the four-wheel CDA china clay wagons in Cornwall after 35 years of loyal service. The whole fleet, operated by DB Cargo, was withdrawn on Friday, August 11, after their last trip loaded with clay from Treviscoe to Fowey Docks, operating as the 6P24 to Fowey running 180 minutes early. (See also Wagon news on page 94 for more on other remaining four-wheel wagons).
The CDA design is a derivative of the successful HAA air-braked, merry-go-round (MGR) coal wagon of the late-1960s, with two axles and six bottom-discharge hoppers, and they were introduced to Cornish clay traffic in February 1988.
Prior to then, clay traffic in Cornwall had been moved in four-wheel, wooden-bodied, vacuum braked ‘Clayhood’ wagons of TOPS code OOV (recoded from UCV in 1983). These wagons were owned and operated by British Rail and totalled close to 500 vehicles. But by the mid-1980s they were reaching the end of their useful life, so BR trialled a specially cleaned, air-braked MGR wagon (HAA No. 353224) as a possible replacement.