Fishkind Files #3: ‘TURBOTS’
AS THE early 1980s began, British Rail was still saddled with a large number of elderly and unfitted ballast wagons of limited capacity and speed. Therefore, during 1982, the rebuilding of 1000 Bogie Bolster E wagons into a new fleet of 34t capacity ballast and spoil carriers was authorised. The resulting wagons were recoded as YCV and were given the Fishkind name of ‘Turbot’.
Originally, the order, to Lot 4021, was to have been undertaken at Derby Litchurch Lane but, in the event, this was amended before the rebuilding project had begun to BREL’s Shildon Works. However, the project was still ongoing when the works at Shildon closed in 1984 so the task was then transferred to BREL’s Swindon Works, only for that workshop to suffer the same fate in 1985.
Three years later, the ‘Turbot’
