Description
Built for the transport of ironstone/iron ore, these wagons were used between ports or quarries and steel works in various parts of England and Wales. They were the BR standard design of iron ore hopper, rather different from all the other contemporary designs which had pre-World War II origins. Wagons to diagram 1/166 (B439700-440049) were built in one lot in 1959. They were built unfitted, but beyond that, things are a little unclear. The most likely story is that the last 229 were built with identical brake gear to D1/163, roller bearings and spindle buffers. The first 121 also had roller bearings and were fitted with a through vacuum pipe from new, but the type of buffer and brake gear is not certain. At an unknown date, full vacuum clasp brake gear was fitted, with buffers being changed to the Oleo type, and this modified version is the subject of this kit.
Diagram 1/168 were vacuum fitted (to the same pattern as D1/166) conversions of D1/163, retaining the original buffers, with some getting roller bearings at the same time. Eighty-two were converted in 1971, but many had modified bodywork to make them suitable for other traffics. The present kit can thus be converted to a limited number of D1/168 by fitting 51L’s BRC003 buffers and perhaps BRC020A axleboxes. The photo shows a D1/168 wagon with roller bearings.