WHR Wagons
Wagons of the original North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways and Welsh Highland Railway. Many vehicles purchased by the former were taken over by the WHR on its formation. It is not thought that any of these vehicles have survived into operational use on either the WHRL or WHR(C). It seems the Welsh Highland always used the spelling wagons, not waggons.
NWNGR wagons[edit]
The NWNGR seems to have had at maximum about 150 assorted wagons but few written records have survived. The Annual Returns start at 114 in 1877, 120 in 1878, peak at 147 in 1892, declining to 113 in 1921.
On 10 May 1882 an agreement was made with the Moel Tryan Rolling Stock Co. Ltd for 'the hire and ultimate purchase . . . .of 15 Railway Wagons for use on (the line) in place of rolling stock worn out or damaged at a total sum of £462.16.0 payable by instalments extending over a period of 6 years from the 1st January 1881. On 23 May 1882 the High Court, Chancery Division, under which Russell acted as Receiver, ordered that the Agreement be carried into effect. The instalments and interest were written off to revenue over five years. There were no alterations at the time in the stock totals. In 1885 Russell said it had been necessary to replace the original wagons.
The figures shown in the Annual Returns are at or near the totals of the types shown in the Accounts presented 6-monthly to shareholders, the total at June 1881 of 120 made up of - 3 Covered Goods Wagons, 90 Slate Wagons, 10 Ore Wagons, 12 Coal Wagons and 5 Timber Trucks. There were also some wagons owned by the quarries served, which should not have been included in these totals, as the were not railway property. There was an accident on 9 August 1902 involving a privately owned iron ore tip wagon.
The reporting of vehicle types was changed from 1913 and became annual as a result of the Accounts and Returns Act 1911, and the 1921 totals given were - 95 Mineral Wagons (82 Mineral Merchandise, 13 Mineral Wagons (Slate etc)) and 18 Rail and Timber Trucks.
However Major Spring's report in the same year gives a total of 150. Maybe he counted derelicts which had officially been withdrawn and so were not counted in the official return. Boyd also mentions about 30 wagons owned by the quarries (both open frame and plank types) and if still on the system some of these may have been accidentally included in Spring's totals.
- Slate Wagons (NWNG)
- 2-plank Open Wagons
- 3-plank Open Wagons
- Large Open Wagons
- Cleminson Coal Wagon (NWNG)
- Ridge-roofed Covered Wagons (NWNG)
- Tipping Wagons (NWNG)
- Timber Wagons (NWNG)
- WHR Vans
- WHR brake vans
Survivors of this stock passed to the WHR in 1923.
Original WHR wagons[edit]
For the opening of the WHR in 1923 no new wagons were provided, but the remains of the NWNG stock were taken over. It appears there was no proper list of the NWNG stock available at this time. Robert Williams of the FR went to Dinas in 1922 to take stock, but as reported in Boyd, he produced a list that totalled 124, and a report adding up to 116. Much of the NWNG stock was then derelict. Some was repaired and repainted but probably not renumbered. None of this stock survived the scrapping of 1941.
FR wagons were used also, particularly in the early years. A Brake Van (No 4) and a Meat Van were converted from Quarrymen's carriages for use on the WHR, but probably remained FR property. These have not survived.
Some ex-WD bogie wagons were acquired and used on the WHR but it is not clear which were WHR and which FR property - see Bogie Wagons.
New WHR wagons[edit]
For the reopening of the WHR from 1997, a new stock of wagons has been acquired, mostly from South Africa. For details see WHR(C) Wagon List.