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British Railways - "Dogfish" Hopper Wagons
Richard Salmon

DB 983103 (built by Chas. Roberts, 1959)

DB 983103 is one of 310 vehicles built in 1959 under lot 2939 by Charles Roberts and Company Ltd. at their Horbury Works, near Wakefield in Yorkshire. A total of 1249 of these wagons were built between 1959 and 1961 by, variously, British Railways' Shildon Works, privately-owned wagon builders Metro-Cammell and, as this one, Charles Roberts Ltd.

The Dogfish was used to carry new track ballast from quarry to worksite and to drop it at a controlled rate over track which was to be machine-packed or 'tamped'. It has three independently-controlled chutes, one on each side and one in the centre. These are operated by large handwheels mounted at one end of the hopper. A platform with guardrails is provided for the operator.

The Southern Railway had favoured larger capacity vacuum-braked bogie hopper wagons and this practice continued into and through the British Railways era. Consequently, Dogfish never saw regular use on the Southern Region. However, as they are vacuum braked and relatively low-sided, enabling them to be loaded with a wheeled shovel-loader, they are popular in railway preservation and were chosen for use on the Bluebell Railway.

As built, the wagons were mounted on wheelsets fitted with several different axlebox and bearing types. All those Dogfish chosen for use on the Bluebell Railway have wheelsets fitted with grease-lubricated roller bearing axleboxes, these having been fitted by British Railways in later years.

The exact origin of the BR practice of allocating 'fish' names to civil engineering vehicles is unknown. When railway operations messages were conveyed by Morse telegraph or teleprinter, if the number of words in a message could be reduced, it could be transmitted quicker. There were lists of code words for certain regular instructions and also for wagon type and capacity. The Great Western Railway favoured fish names for engineering wagons, and this may have been the origin. However, whatever the reason, if one refers to a 'dogfish', any railwayman will know that one is not referring to the similar 'catfish' or 'trout'!