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These wagons were originally built as Coal Hoppers (mainly HTV), but a surplus of such wagons in the early 1980s led to their withdrawal. This coincided with a requirement for ‘new’ civil engineers ballast and spoil wagons to replace the elderly Grampus open wagons and second-hand 16-ton minerals wagons then in use. A programme was therefore put in hand to convert more than 2000 such wagons into ‘Clam’, ‘Rudd’ and ‘Tope’ wagons.
The ‘Rudd’ variant involved the fitting of a new box body with drop-side doors, and also air brakes. 800 of these were converted by Marcroft Engineering of Stoke (wagon numbers DB 972000-DB 972399) and C C Crump of Connah’s Quay (wagon numbers DB 972400-DB 972799). The ‘Rudd’, which has a 21 ton capacity, was particularly long-lasting with more than 200 still in use at the start of 2008. The [[TOPS code]] is '''ZBA'''.
==Acquisition and use by the SVR==
