[[File: {{Infobox wagon|image = GWR_80603_20150307.jpg |thumbcaption = GWR Ballast Wagon 80603|300pxconstruc = GWR Swindon|rightstatus = | GWR Ballast Wagon wagno = 80603|othernos = DW 80603]]|designed = |diagram = P15|lot = 1215|wagtype = |telcode = STARFISH (BR)|topscode = ZAO|brakes = |built = 1935-7|years1 = 1973|events1 = Arrived on SVR|years2 = 1985|events2 = Appeared on the main line|years3 = 2000|events3 = Overhauled}}This open steel dropside 10-ton 'Starfish' Ballast Wagon was built at Swindon circa 1935-37 to Diagram P15, Lot 1215. It is sister to [[GWR 80684 Ballast Wagon|80684]] and one of 16 extant examples listed by the Vintage Carriages Trust.
It 80603 was purchased from BR Swindon by SVR(H) for PW Department use and arrived in November 1973.<ref>SVR Stock Book Ninth Edition</ref> It received a clean-up and light repair to an axle box in 1980, following which it appeared on the main line in 1985 as part of the [[The Severn Valley Railway on the main line#SVR Wagons used on the main line in preservation| GW 150 demonstration freight train]] which ran to Newport behind [[2857|GWR freight loco 2857]].<ref>SVR News 78</ref> An issue with this type of wagon is that the door stops can become bent with use, allowing the top of the door to hit the axle box when it is opened, potentially resulting in damage to the axle box castings and bearings within. A further overhaul in 2000 replaced two axle boxes broken in this manner, with the wagon floor and ends being replaced at the same time<ref>SVR News 113</ref>.
==See also==
==References==
Railway Heritage Register Wagon Survey (states build date as 1935)<brreferences/>SVR Stock Book Eighth Edition (states build date as 1937)
==Links==
[http://www.ws.vintagecarriagestrust.org/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=8153 80603 on vintagecarriagestrust.org]<br>
