NCB double hopper wagon 16

Above: NCB twin hopper wagon no 16 as repainted at Caverswall Road station in 2000

At first sight this wagon looks rather precarious, comprising two large steel containers mounted on a much older 12 ton wooden coal wagon frame of RCH 1923 design. It was probably constructed at the NCB wagon workshops at Sideway in Stoke-on-Trent, the old wooden underframe being favoured because it would flex slightly on uneven colliery trackwork and therefore be less prone to derailments. NCB number 16 is not really a hopper wagon in the traditional sense, in that the two "U" shaped steel bins are tipped sideways by hydraulic rams, powered by a three-phase electric pump. Each bin has a flap at the lower edge of one end, rather than opening at the bottom. The wagon is affectionately known as the "twintub", and was used at Hem Heath Colliery to transfer coal to a landsale wharf from which it could be sold to local people. Purchased at the auction sale in April 1994 on the demise of Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum, it arrived at Foxfield a few days later and is now undergoing restoration including new timber in the main frame.