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Reviewed by Alex McGill - Loaned by Tower Models
Gazette - August 2016 (Vol 19 No.12)

These long lived wagons started to be built in the late 1950s, and they lasted until the end of the 20th century, becoming obsolete because they were vacuum braked. Many survive in use on preserved railways.

The wagon comes in a substantial box, which no doubt is to protect it during the journey from China. The sample provided is in the late engineer’s dark green livery, the wagon is also available in black, the earlier green and the final grey and yellow liveries. The fully sprung axleboxes are modelled on the roller bearing type, the brake shoes are in line with the wheels, and close to them. Indeed, without the weight of the wagon on the wheels the brakes drag as the axleboxes are fully extended, the wagon is very free running when on the track. The brake rigging is a good representation of the real thing. I can remember these wagons well from my commuting days, with trainloads of them frequently sitting in Woking yard ready for weekend work. The overall appearance is good and true to the prototype, the handrails, control gear for the ballast chutes and end vacuum cylinder all being nicely reproduced. The markings are finely printed, with every detail being legible under a magnifier. The model has sprung buffers, the correct instanter couplings are provided, and vacuum brake pipes in the correct location. A thoughtful provision by Heljan is two dummy loads, so the wagon can be run full or half full. As the model will be going back into Tower’s stock I didn’t want to remove the load from its packaging, but hopefully the photo above shows the part load clearly.

The three hole disc wheels are metal, back to back is 29mm, wheel thickness is 3.75mm, flange depth is impossible to measure accurately without dismantling the wagon, but is about 1.5mm. The wheelsets have about 2mm of sideplay.

There are some minor niggles. The works plate is printed and lacks depth, and the moulded load clip is too shallow. Neither is noticeable at a normal viewing distance, and a printed works plate is better than no works plate. With the benefit of a straight edge there is a very slight inward bow of the wagon sides. In my experience that is a common issue with plastic open wagons, I find it to be an automatic problem with kit built opens. The bow is not visible to the naked eye, only with a straight edge. There should be electrification flashes at the platform end, either on the solebar by the top of the steps or at the top of the wagon side. They could be added easily.

Overall this is a nicely made model that accurately represents the prototype.

Kim Nammestad of Heljan commented that the prototype photo (from Paul Bartlett's archive), of the wagon modelled did not show any overhead warning flashes which is why they were ommitted. Heljan kindly enclosed a copy of the picture (below).