Hornby R6585 West Midlands Joint Electricity Authority 20-Ton Steel Bodied Coal Wagon OO
Before the national grid electricity was generated at local power stations, often serving just one town. In the industrial cities of the West Midlands a combined authority was formed.
To supply the expanding power stations in the 1930s the authority ordered a fleet these high capacity 20-ton open wagons, often operating them as a block train between colleries and the power station. The steel bodied wagons had long lives and, as specialised wagons, remained in the electricty authoritys' ownership into the nationalised era.
The block train pattern of operation was copied by British Rail to serve the new coal fired power stations built in the 1960s.