With South Australian Railways (SAR) stimulus, the Victorian Railways purchased some bogie wagons in 1925. These orders were apparently an extension of the SAR contract. One of the orders was for hopper wagons.
The wagons were built as kits by American Car and Foundry, assembled at Newport Workshops and went into service in 1925. The hopper wagons were classed as J with numbers 1 to 12.
They were intended for coal traffic. Markings indicate 'Slack coal traffic'. Reports say they were unsuitable. The main reason being the slope sheets were too shallow and the coal did not discharge fully. The traffic was presumably brown coal as _O__ wagons at the time were transporting brown coal from Yallourn to the Newport Power Station.
The wagons were placed into ballast traffic from the late 1920's. The wagons were in briquette traffic in the late 1930's and ballast traffic again in the 1950's.
In about 1957, J 8 was modified to carry bulk grain. The wagon hopper was covered the entire length with a raised top, similar to the CJ wagons at the time. In late 1958 the wagon re-entered Newport Workshops and was converted to _CJ_ 51. This was the first of the J wagons to be converted.