HEA Hopper Conversions: Railfreight Coal MEA

The spring sunshine has arrived just in time for the first of the MEA box wagons to pose for the official photographer on the works lawn.

Finished in Railfreight Sector executive dark grey and yellow livery the wagon sports the black diamond branding of it's owning sector - Trainload Coal.

HEA Hopper Conversions: MFA Render

It's always satisfying to see the first complete renders of a shape before the unwrapping for baking and textures starts. The MFA mineral wagon is certainly no exception to that feeling.

Just like in real life this shape is a conversion from an MEA mineral wagon with the height of the sides reduced and other small changes for it's use as an infrastructure wagon. The chunky nature of the body makes for a rugged looking wagon and if you've ever seen an excavator unloading one of these wagons during engineering works you can appreciate why they need to be tough!

HEA Hoppers - Post BR: Long Lived Loadhaul

Continuing our exploration of the HEA Hoppers after British Rail we come to one of the unusual examples, a dirty Loadhaul liveried hopper that has survived long enough for the paint to fade and a bit of grime to build up. This long life has allowed it time to gain modern overhead warning stickers and have the end ladders removed.

Given the lack of information about the HEA hoppers and especially those that made it into Loadhaul colours this could be a bit of a might have been variation but at least it adds a little more variety!

HEA Hoppers - Post BR: Tatty Transrail

Returning to the theme of HEA hoppers, it's time for the late in life Transrail version to make an appearance today.

The version shown has had the offset ladders and hand holds removed. As a consequence rust scars can be seen on the light body grey.

This wagon is also carrying a more modern version of the battery flashing tail lamp which is considerably slimmer and sports a reflective patch on the front.