The most numerous wagon built by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway was a rugged design of 7 plank open wagons built on a standardised steel underframe. Over 2000 wagons of this design were built between 1915 and 1927 with large numbers surviving into British Railways service. During this time, the only design change was the addition of a sheet rail to the Southern Railway-built wagons at the time of construction. This all-new model features a separately fitted sheet rail to allow both SECR and SR built examples to be modelled.
To complement the seven-plank wagon an all new five-plank wagon is also offered. A total of 550 diagram 1347 wagons were built by the SECR and SR. Although classed as “rebuilds” only the wheelsets and buffers were reused from older wagons – these being coupled to the standard chassis used on the seven plank wagons. A further 150 wagons were also built to the near-identical diagram 1349. These wagons featured self-contained buffers which have been produced as separately fitted parts to allow both the diagram 1347 and 1349 wagons to be represented.
Due to their relatively modern design, both wagon types survived into British Railways service finding their way across large parts of the railway network. The wagons also carried a wide range of liveries including SECR grey, SR brown (with two different lettering styles), BR freight grey alongside various BR Departmental liveries – all of which have been faithfully reproduced.
These items have now sold out direct from Rapido Trains UK.
