This is a placeholder for all information on OTA wagons, as written up in Update, and on the old Forum, plus additional new material.
BR has a history of converting wagons to convey logs: the Timber-P (TOPS code UUV) had previous lives on the Condor freight service, and as Plate wagons. These of course were not appropriate for the air-braked era.
In the 1980’s log timber was being moved around by unconverted OBA wagons, and by bogie wagons such as the BSW and BTA conversions. These were not always totally suitable. In particular the OBA wagons were not able to take the volume of the cargo to be efficient. As a result, various OCA wagons were converted, and then with the changes in contracts, further conversions were undertaken.
Surplus VDA vans were used as donors in the 1990’s, along with the VHA. Finally some OBA wagons were also modified. The position was complicated by transfers between wagon pools, as contracts were won or lost and some OTAs were then used as reach wagons, or as engineers stock. Additionally wagons were written off in incidents, and even then they were sometimes rebuilt and reinstated.
This created a varied fleet as lessons were learnt about what was really required. For example the original timber floors didn’t stand up to the unloading machinery, and so steel decking was introduced. Indeed wagons were rebuilt during their career as OTAs, with ends extended (to increase capacity), or had stanchions taken out, again probably modified to meet the requirements of the handling
machinery in each contract.
There were also trials with experimental ‘one-offs’. 112292 was apparently the test bed for the later ExTe stanchions, and 200944 had a cradle between the stanchions to keep the handling grabs free of the wooden floor.
There were three main sets of donor wagons: OCAs, Vans (VDA/VHA), and OBAs, to the following design codes: (and I’ve included the original Update article references)
Design code
Tops Code
Number range*
UpDate article
OT001A
OTA-A
112067-112399
71, 76, 78, 79
Ex OC001A
OT001B
OTA-B
112292 ?
75
Not definitive
OT001C
OTA-C
112184-112386
69
Ex OC001A Thames
OT002A
OTA-D
200708-200974/210144-210363
73
Ex VDA
OT002B
OTA-D
201029-201093
73
Ex VDA, experimental suspension
OT002C
OTA-D
200817/200822
73
Ex VDA
OT002D
OTA-D
200980-200985
73
Ex VDA
OT002E
OTA-D
201070
79
Ex VHA
OT002F
OTA-E
200944
70
Ex VDA. Revised stanchions for Forestry Commission
OT003A
OTA-B
200650-200996/210129-210392
74
Ex VDA
OSA
200721
70
OT003B
OTA-B
200864/210136/210281
74
Ex VDA
OT003C
OTA-B
200651-200997/210107-210332
74
Ex ZRA (VDA)
OT003D
OTA-D
200995
74
Ex VDA experimental suspension
OT004A
OTA-F
110010-110797
68
Ex ZDA (OBA)
*the actual numbers will be set out later when going through the design codes
If you have the time/inclination, potted history is good. The modelling could possibly be a Workbench thread to make it easier to follow the history/prototype information.
I’ve not figured out tags either, the + button seems to do nothing when I type a tag in on apost.
Understood, I won’t put too much across, but if we have enough warning we can at least make backups of the initial posts and put them on the new version when it goes live.
I’ve now been able to add tags from those provided.
This I can see being a bit of a minefield to do, but once done, properly, will add to what we want this to be.
I’d, from a user background, want a history which gives a summary, and then “links” in whatever way is appropriate, to the workbench/other articles.
Which then begs a question as to how long you give people the edit function, and to whom: bearing in mind the historical issues we’ve had in the past.
a@y
I think if we can find a way of allowing tags to be added after initial topic creation then that would solve having to have the edit function available indefinitely on every topic (for the original poster and admins only).
I had wanted to add this picture to the top post, but the edit function is not “live”
Not a problem really. But it would have been nice to get a picture onto the “header”.
a@y
