they were loaded from above and unloaded, like covered wagons, through the side doors. because unloading involved a lot of manual work, alternatives were already being sought by the 1920s. in the 1950s the self-discharging wagon with roof (see below) completely ousted the lidded wagon from its original field of operations. the last large batch of lidded wagons was procured by the east german deutsche reichsbahn in 1958.