BR 24 ton "Dogfish" ballast hopper, number B982307 

Above: BR "Dogfish" ballast hopper at Caverswall Road station in 2000

This hopper wagon, is the most versatile type of wagon for carrying and discharging track ballast and is known on BR as a "Dogfish" (all track maintenance vehicles having aquatic codenames). By control of the bottom doors using the large handwheels on a platform at one end, 24 tons of ballast can be rapidly and accurately placed between the rails or to either side while the wagon is drawn slowly forward. A similar vehicle, DB993138, had previously been loaned to Foxfield from the Battlefield Line Railway and it was the success in using it on ballasting work that led an active member of the permanent way gang to secure an example as soon as one became available. When used on the mainline a ballast plough brakevan (known as an "Oyster" or a "Shark"!) and a tamping machine are used to distribute the ballast evenly. But at Foxfield, once the ballast is dropped, it is usually moved and packed by hand in the traditional way. 

The Foxfield example, DB982307, arrived by road from Leamington on 14 May 1995 in full working order and has been in regular use ever since. It still retains its light grey and yellow paintwork, known as "Dutch livery", but would have originally been painted all over black. Later it may have received "gulf red" or "olive green" liveries, and restoration to any of these may be a possibility when a repaint becomes due.