Kernow PRA china clay wagon
◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL KMRC SB007H PRA china clay wagon RLS6308, early livery; SB007D PRA china clay wagon RLS6316, late livery ◆ PRICE From £39.99 ◆ AVAILABILITY Kernow Model Rail Centre Tel 01209 714099 Web www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com
It’s said that the white cross on the Cornish flag represents veins of tin. Tin was just one of the many materials once mined from under Cornwall’s beautiful landscape. Today, it’s china clay that forms the bulk of the mining and quarry industry that remains in the West Country.
Being a powdery sort of material, china clay – or, more correctly, kaolinite – requires a wagon with a cover to prevent it blowing away on the move. Consequently, from the sheeted open wagons of the steam era and the famous ‘hood’ four-wheel opens, to the big ‘Tiger’ bogie wagons and the ‘Silver Bullet’ slurry tanks, china clay wagons have become a distinctive part of the railway scene. Kernow Model Rail Centre, as a proudly Cornish organisation, has naturally brought us them all.
Now Kernow has added a small footnote in the china clay wagon story, the four-wheel PRA.
The PRA story starts with the 96 four-wheel box vans that Standard Wagon of Heywood built for Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers in 1964 to carry bags of cement. These wagons were largely out of service by the early 1980s but Standard Wagon spotted an opportunity to re-use the underframes. They started to fit new bodies to create PMA and PMV opens and also created 14 versions with covers for china clay traffic. These became PRA.
Rather than running in block trains, the PRAS were designed to be used in BR wagon-load Speedlink service. They were predominantly used between Pontsmill or Burngullow and Wiggins Teape’s paper factory near Fort William. The 14 PRAS, RLS6303-6316, didn’t last too long though, and were withdrawn in the early 1990s.
They may not have been the most famous china clay wagons but that hasn’t stopped Kernow from producing a top quality model. First impressions are of a wealth of handrails which are produced in a delicate looking but flexible plastic that will withstand all but the heaviest of heavy touches. The end side catwalks are etched brass with a commendable amount of daylight visible through the holes, which makes them look very refined. The only thing you need to watch is your fingers with the ends of the cover rolling equipment.
FINE DETAIL
The overall shape and character matches photographs on Paul Bartlett’s website (https://bit. ly/2lhsbfe ). The attention to detail even extends to the curious multitude of holes in the bufferbeam.
The underframe detail appears to be present and correct and the brake pipes look nice and delicate. The axleboxes, ‘W’ irons, springing and suspension gear are crisply produced. Sadly, both review samples suffered from bowed handbrake levers, but apparently this is an isolated incident. A couple of the brake blocks are also not fitted correctly but they were broadly in line with the wheel treads.
The underframe detail appears to be present and correct and the brake pipes look nice and delicate
Slim tension lock couplers are mounted in fixed NEM pockets. Some moulded plastic buffers can look, well, a bit dodgy but those on the PRAS actually look pretty good. Fitting the supplied brake pipes and coupling chains will make the bufferbeams look even better.
PRA carried two liveries during their lifetime. They were originally supplied with grey underframes but later received black underframes. This is slightly academic, as these wagons were always covered in a thick layer of grime that made identifying the underlying colour difficult! Printing and colour application is excellent throughout.
They might feel a little lightweight (topping the scales at just 44g) but the PRAS performed faultlessly on our test track, both being hauled on their own or marshalled into a longer rake of vehicles. They even withstood being propelled through the tight pointwork on our test track at all but the highest speed on our Gaugemaster controller. Obscure they may be but Kernow has delivered yet another good-looking wagon for a decent price. The question is: will the underframe be used for anything else? (RF)