In 1923, The Great Western Railway started a concerted effort to introduce larger capacity coal/mineral wagons, to save shunting and enable shorter train lengths. They were colloquially known as Felix Pole wagons, after the GW’s energetic General Manager, who worked hard to promote their use. These 20ton wagons were built to a variety of diagrams, and in 1933, 5000 were constructed to Dia.N32 at a cost of £1 million, and rented to collieries.
These wagons had one fixed and one opening end, and were similar to the N24, introduced 10 years earlier, but had 2 opening ends. Paradoxically, the N27 had two fixed ends, and Minerva will be looking to run batches of the N24 and N27 in the future.
They appeared in several private owner liveries, and Minerva will offer some of these additionally to the normal GW and BR colours. Initially two or three PO liveries will be offered.
After collieries were nationalised in 1947, they started to appear all over the UK, and were generally repainted into BR colours. Many were used for power station traffic, and also for railway loco coal.
Tooling is well advanced and it is expected deliveries will commence in summer 2023
Technical Specification
- An injection-moulded body weighted for good running
- Fine scale wheels to 32mm gauge
- Alternative liveries, including Private Owner
- Sprung buffers and hook draw-gear with 3 link couplings
- Up to four different liveries will be offered with appropriate lettering, with others
Price of each model is expected o be around £55-£60, but this has yet to be confirmed due to currency fluctuations.
Wonderful. Much appreciated.
Is there an order form for these yet?