Tuesday 6 October 2015

Loadhaul CEA Covered Hoppers

Fastline Simulation: A pristine Loadhaul liveried CEA conversion is seen from the less cluttered side. The original HEA hopper was one of the early built examples with a central ladder.

Fastline Simulation: A CEA conversion of one of the more numerous offset ladder HEAs in weathered Lodhaul livery is seen from the side with the sheet rubber straps and bodyside cleats.
A fair while ago we shoed some pictures of the CEAs under development. Today it's a pleasure to show off the final versions with updated materials and textures and a few other tweaks.

The CEA conversion was one of the latter attempts to find a use for the large numbers of hoppers that were standing around with very little to do. They were converted in 1996 by the shadow privatisation company Loadhaul with a retractable sheet that could be rolled back from ground level by attaching a windlass to a spigot fitted to the under-frame to allow them to carry products which needed protecting from the weather or may have had issues with dust blowing off in transit. Interestingly a thin corner support was added to the later build wagons at the time of conversion which led to a little bit of confusion at one point in the development of this expansion!

Some 44 wagons were converted and they appear to have had questionable success in traffic. Some commodities that the wagons have been noted carrying include Limestone, Calcified Seaweed, China Clay, Petroleum Coke and Chipped Tyres for use at Aberthawe Cement Works.

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