These larger hoppers had a roller-bearing plate bogie (this is a "one-piece" moulding) and were a basically a stretched Walrus, but air-braked. The wagons required strengthening and were moved off the Southern Region in 1982, some working, for example, from a quarry near Shrewsbury. Apparently the designer of the Whales travelled from Meldon Quarry to Taunton on their first trip, in the brake van at the rear of the train. He is said to have emerged onto the platform looking rather green and demanding disciplinary action, as the train had run at 60mph, and the wagons were only designed for 30-45mph! This was how they ended their days, as from 2000 Network Rail imposed a 30mph speed restriction on them.

The bogie ballast hoppers suffered from distortion, and some SR hoppers and Walruses got extra plates on the bottom edge at the end of the sides. Some of the SR ones had wider vertical channels fitted at the end of the sides. Even the later Sealions showed some bending at this point due to the hopper section sagging inboard of the bogie mounting. It is thought that all Whales have now been withdrawn.

OPERATION: These wagons usually ran in block trains from quarries (e.g. Meldon) to main yards. As they were only equipped with air-brakes, they would not have run with the older 40ton hoppers, but could well have been used with Seacows/lions when these appeared from 1970 (three extra Seacows were built in 1972 to replace the two scrapped Whales). Some SECR &SR brake vans were piped in order to use them with Whales, as were some Sharks.

LIVERY: The hoppers were Olive green with black bogies and white lettering. For some reason, despite the new style for wagon lettering introduced in 1964, some Whales had unboxed lettering, using a non-standard typeface like that found on Lampreys. Steps (possibly not when built), brake handwheels, handrails and door handwheels should be white. The canopy supports and canopy were also white.

The Ashford modified wagon remained in Olive green, but the others were repainted in “Dutch” grey/yellow livery in 1982. Steps (possibly not when built), brake handwheels, handrails and door handwheels should be white. The ends of the bearings should be painted yellow (this did not always survive repainting). DB982373 had red bearings. The yellow stripe of the “Dutch” livery should be 4mm deep from the top of the sides. The step “S” was also painted white. Bogies were black (when they’d just been painted).