Dapol O Gauge 7F-053-006 BR B498136 1/044 13-Ton Open Wagon BR Bauxite RTR Wagon Model
Dapol O gauge model of British Railways diagram 1/044 5 plank open merchandise wagon B498136 finished in bauxite livery. This vacuum train brake equipped wagon was also fitted with a sheet support rail to ensure rain drained from tarpaulin covers. The model rail can be moved so can be posed folded down when the wagon is empty.
British Railways Ideal Stocks Committee favoured the LNER all-steel design wagons as the standard high sided open merchandise wagons, but recognised that the all-steel wagons proved unsuitable for some traffic and wooden bodied wagons would also be required. Wood body wagons noticeably suffered from damage to the end planking as loads shifted, often during shunting. The LMS had addressed this issue with robust corrugated steel end panels and as BR sorted out the left-over pre-nationalisation building programmes diagrams 1/039 and 1/044 appeared as the first of the BR design 5-plank wagons to be built in large numbers.
2,820 wagons were built to diagram 1/044, to the same basic plan as 1/039, equipped with vacuum train brakes but without the sheet support rail.