HTA Wagon

History
Up until 2000 the bulk of the UK coal hopper fleet was made up of the MGR type 4-wheeled HAA hoppers built between 1964-77 for BR with a 32 tonne capacity. The entire fleet being owned by EWS after privatisation. A smaller batch of bogie coal hoppers had been introduced by National Power (TOPS Code JMA) in 1995 but the vast majority of coal trains to power stations used the older wagons. With Freightliner Heavy Haul breaking into the power station coal market from 2000 new wagons were needed in a hurry and they went for a 102 tonne bogie vehicle with a high load capacity and speed rating. This equated to 75mph empty and 60mph loaded where as the old MGR hoppers operated by EWS were 55 or 60mph empty and 45mph loaded on many routes with a few exceptions.

When Freightliner took delivery of the HHA hoppers built by Greenbrier in Poland in 2000 load capacity took a big leap forward with EWS still moving trains of 36 MGR wagons with a Gross laden weight around 1900 tonne where as the new high capacity hoppers operated by FLHH increased train weights to the 2200 tonne mark. EWS had planned to upgrade the fleet having gained experience using the JMA bogie hoppers after buying out National Power Rail operations in April 1998. So EWS placed a massive order with Thrall UK an American based company for over 1100 new hoppers to largely replace the MGR fleet. The first of a new design coal hoppers with a 74.8 tonne capacity, TOPS code HTA appeared in 2001 a year after the Freightliner owned wagons. A big break with tradition saw the new hoppers fitted with American AAR autocouplers where as Freightliner had gone for standard draw gear with hook and buffers. This change had been made possible as 248 of the class 66's had started to be retro fitted with swing head AAR couplers as other new wagons were being built with AAR couplers. The HTA vehicles could thus run in much bigger trains as the Canadian CEO of EWS (Keith Heller) was keen to see American style consists for coal trains to save train path costs. This culminated in the standard 21 vehicle wagon sets being joined at Carlisle on the Anglo Scottish flows to run double headed with pairs of 66's as 42 wagon sets between Carlisle Kingmoor Yard and York North Yard via the Tyne valley. Operational problems in splitting and joining the trains made the new workings unreliable and the concept was dropped. Subsequent modifications have seen a few HTA wagons fitted with buffers one end and renumbered into a 33xxxx range for use on certain flows to cement works where private shunters are involved as well as the Liverpool LBT to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station workings that use class 60's which don't have AAR couplers.