Open Merchandise

Open wagons are many and varied, with the railways deemed a common carrier they are obliged to convey anything and everything.  There were three main categories. Lows, Mediums, and Highs.  These categories relate to the height of the sides of the vehicles,  generally these relate to the number of planks of a planked wagon,  Low – 1 Plank, Medium – 3 Plank and High – 5 Plank although they were also built of steel with similar heights.

To protect vulnerable loads, sheets were applied although this added more time and effort to vehicle loading. The Open wagon developed into hopper wagons, they had increased capacity and fitted with doors underneath to unload the vehicle easily and efficiently