The Most Interesting Wagon You Never Heard of - Decorated Coil A Arrives!

[BosKonay]

We got a most interesting reaction when we launched our Coil A steel coil wagons back in January: 

"The what?" 

"They're a new one on me!"

"What is that?"

"Never 'eard of them mate!"

We knew the coil A was a bit of a gamble of a less well known prototype, but we were a bit worried when the initial reaction was one of unfamiliarity. The poor coil A!

However, this initial reaction soon turned to genuine interest as many modellers were intrigued by its interesting look and form. And then the 17 modellers who always dreamed of a high standard modernisation plan steel coil carrying wagon rejoiced at our news! 

Well, there is now further good news as we reveal the first factory decorated sample of these interesting unsung heroes which helped build Britain for over 30 years. 

In the late 1950s/early 1960s, British Railways was out of step with the increase in production of rolled strip steel and as a result, neither the correct type or necessary quantity of wagons were available to British Railways to be able to meet the demands placed upon the system by this traffic. Fortunately, this demand for specialised rolling stock occurred at a time when there was a surplus of rolling stock available and eventually some thirty different diagrams were issued, as a variety of surplus stock was converted for the carriage of steel coils, in varying capacities.

1/412 Coil Wagons were first allocated for cold reduced coil traffic from John Summers, at Hawarden Bridge during 1962 and by 1975, 35 vehicles were in Pool 3019, working Hawarden Bridge to various locations that included Leith South, Wolverhampton Steel Terminal, Whitehall Road in Leeds, Pressed Steel at Swindon, Stroud (for Elphor Ltd, a subsidiary of John Summers and Sons and producers of aluminium coated steel strip up to 45cm wide) and Jackson and Bell at Watford North. By 1971 examples of Coil A wagons could also be found at South Shields, and at Middlesbrough by 1975, by which point 15 were allocated to Pool 1307 on hire to the British Steel Corporation at Motherwell. They were also to be seen at Grangemouth Docks and at Ebbw Vale in traffic from Gartcosh with Coil B, Coil E, Coil G, Coil L and Coil T wagons.

By the middle of 1976, Coil A wagons were to be seen on inter-regional traffic at Severn Tunnel Junction, running with Bogie Coil G (JGV) wagons and during 1979 some of the diagram were involved in movements between Lackenby and Strood, carrying hot rolled coil rather than cold reduced coil, working alongside Bogie Coil M (JMV) stock. By 1981 examples were working from Goole Docks alongside ex-SPV Coil D (KDV) stock and during 1982 several examples were noted at Newport Docks, branded to Pool 7121 alongside JGV stock.

They were also working to British Leyland at Swindon, Brierley Hill and to Ford at Dagenham. By 1984, the 29 remaining vehicles were used on South Wales workings, along with the 27 Coil B survivors, particularly to Newport Docks where most of the survivors collected but also to Hamworthy Docks at Poole. In 1986 several examples worked to Avonmouth but by early 1992 the 21 surviving vehicles were all operating out of Llanwern, along with the remaining SGW types, but only to the end of the year, by which time the last examples were scrapped.

Judging by pre-orders so far many modellers seem to like a bit of quirk, with our three packs on offer proving very popular indeed. Overall, we are quite happy with the fine printing, detail and colours, with some amendments carried out to give the hood a more canvas type appearance. However, there is still some seam lines to be removed and corrections to the imprint of the stretcher bars at the ends of the canvas top to be made. The wagon well should be brown, not black as per this sample, but this will be corrected for the production variants. 

However, these are minor corrections and the delivery date of these wagons remains unaffected at Q3 2021. Prices are £74.95 per triple pack and you can pre-order via one of over 100 Accurascale stockists, or direct by clicking here. 

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