HEA Hopper Conversions: Sparkling CEAs

Time is always at a premium over the summer months with all those little jobs and fun family things to do! However, time has been found to finish the last of the models and base liveries to be included in our HEA Hopper Conversions expansion pack for Train Simulator 2014, a milestone marked by the completion of the CEA hoppers.

For a small fleet of hoppers the variation in livery and lettering they have gained since conversion, when they were a nice uniform fleet, is amazing. As a consequence the red liveries are a bit of a best fit compromise that gives the correct feel but isn't necessarily correct for every wagon.

The first picture in the post shows a red liveried CEA (one of the few converted from the early batch with central ladders) in what feels like a bit of an interim livery to spruce up the hoppers but still very much in the style of the original Loadhaul livery.

 This second hopper has gain fully branded red and gold livery. Even with this livery there is little standardisation in the extents of the red paint and the positioning of some of the labelling specific to the CEA hoppers themselves.

Moving right back to the start we see the completed Loadhaul hopper that has had a trip back to the Paint Shop for the application of the lettering that was still to be applied in the previous post.

With the shapes and base textures completed, control of the project now moves to our texture artist to add a little grime to the clean ones and to be distressingly creative with the weathered ones.

HEA Hopper Conversions: Loadhaul CEA

A freshly converted CEA hopper is seen in Loadhaul livery, fresh from the paint shop before any of the lettering has been applied.

The CEA conversions were an interesting conversion of the standard HEA hopper by Loadhaul to convert them into a covered hopper utilising a fixed flexible sheet with an integral system to retract it for loading. Some 45 wagons were converted and have been tried on a variety of traffics which have either been short term or less than successful! At the present time a number are in store at Tees Yard.

HEA Hopper Conversions: Scrapped

Sorry, couldn't resist that heading given the subject of this post!

The stars of the blog post today, featuring items under development for our HEA Hopper Conversions expansion for Train Simulator 2014 are possibly some the most minimal 'conversions' ever. As domestic and industrial coal traffic declined British Rail started looking for further traffic that the HEA hoppers they had relatively recently invested in could be used for.

One such traffic was the carrying of scrap from collection points to processing plants. Given the nature of the traffic the bottom discharge capabilities of the wagons was not needed with locations loading and unloading wagons using electro-magnets or grabs. As a consequence conversion involved blanking off the hoppers at the bottom of the wagon to give a level base. Two methods of conversion were used, either the welding of a steel plate across the tops of the hoppers (as in the maroon version above) or a more basic conversion achieved by filling the bottom of the wagon with ballast (as with the flame red and grey wagon above).

In both cases the TOPS code was changed to HSA and an increased tare indicated for the ballast filled examples to take into account the weight of the ballast in the bottom of the wagon. In either case the wagons were not overly successful for the harsh treatment they received being loaded and unloaded with grabs and magnets with serious body damage taking place fairly rapidly due to the much lighter build compared to the specialist scrap box type wagons.

HEA Hopper Conversions: A Brake Van for the Sectorisation Era

Our latest screenshot of items to be included in our HEA Hopper Conversions expansion pack for Train Simulator 2014 is a dia 1/507 CAR brake van in Trainload Railfreight Sector livery.

Even though the days of every goods train conveying a brake van on the rear for the use of the guard were long past a number of CAR brake vans did surprisingly receive the Trainload Railfreight livery complete with sector decals. The vans were given this modern livery as they were still needed for use with hazardous cargoes and where propelling movements were required as a part of a trains booked schedule. It was probably good for public perception of some of these potentially controversial commodities to appear to be carried in smart, well maintained trains too!

The main reason for including a new version of the CAR in our HEA Hopper Conversions expansion is to work alongside the RNA Barrier Wagons for use with nuclear flask traffic. The vans were included in trains in the late 1980's and early 1990's to assist with shunting movements at terminals and in the unlikely event of something untoward happening to a train conveying nuclear flasks the guard would be able to protect the rear of the train without the locomotive crew having to pass the flasks carried on the train.

HEA Hopper Conversions: Loadhaul MEA

The last of the pre-privatisation shadow freight companies to place an order for MEA conversions was Loadhaul. These wagons were delivered after the acquisition of Loadhaul (along with Transrail and Mainline Freight) by a subsidiary Wisconsin Central, better known as EWS.

The livery of these wagons differs from others given the Loadhaul treatment in that they were delivered in all over black without the orange ends usually applied to Loadhaul rolling stock. The wagons are also notable for having a white band around the top rather than the more usual yellow carried by other MEA conversions to that date. Possibly these changes were dictated by the change in owning company at the time of delivery.

Our latest screenshot from Train Simulator 2014 shows an ex-works MEA wagon in tidy black and white Loadhaul livery posing for the official camera before entering service.