HYA 'Cutdown' hopper Profile and Models

371064 at Shirebrook in July 2016. ©Derek Wilson

In 2015, the increase in the UK's carbon tax meant that many coal carrying wagons were stored practically overnight. Some were repurposed for aggregates traffic but the dense nature of the stone meant that many could only be partially filled. VTG experimented with reducing the size of HYA/ IIA wagons to make them more suitable. This was a success and by 2021, nearly half of the original wagons had been converted for this. Regardless of whether they started life as a HYA or IIA, all wagons are coded as HYAs and bear a number of different livery variations.

(Information provided via Accurascale)

Type of Vehicle	Hopper wagon
Builder	IRS, Romania (Modified by WH Davis, UK)
Build Dates	2016 to 2021
Total Built	Around 180
Wheel Configuration	2 x TF25 Bogies
Operated By	VTG/ GB Railfreight/ Tarmac Touax/ GB Railfreight/ Cemex NACCO
Main Duties	Aggregates
In Service Until	Present
Surviving Examples	All in service