Graham Farish HKA bogie hoppers
◆ GAUGE ‘N’ ◆ MODEL Graham Farish 373-812 HKA hopper, National Power debranded and weathered; 373-813 HKA hopper DB Schenker red ◆ PRICE From £45.95 ◆ AVAILABILITY Graham Farish stockists
National Power, the owner of Drax power station, joined Foster Yeoman and ARC in operating its own trains in 1994 It too ordered Class 59s from General Motors but it also needed its own wagons and, therefore, placed an order for 85 large bogie coal hoppers in 1995, which were delivered from Powell Duffryn’s French factory. These wagons, coded JMA under TOPS, were later used as the basis for Freightliner’s new-build bogie coal hoppers.
In 1998, the National Power fleet was acquired by EWS and, as coal traffic has declined, the JMAS have been used more widely for carrying aggregates. The National Power logos, on the centre of the bodyside, were patch-painted out. A batch were given improved bogies in 2009 and recoded HKA; they were otherwise left unchanged.
HKA conversions carried out from 2014 also included the bodies being refurbished and given a new coat of DB Schenker red. At this time, they were also given an additional RIV international series number and given both the TOPS code HKA and the UIC code ‘Fabnooss’.
Graham Farish has long had the Freightliner version of the
JMA design in its range. However, it hasn’t simply fitted new bogies to the existing tooling; to truly do justice to the HKA, it’s produced new body
A Europe-wide
standard method of numbering railway rolling stock.
mouldings as there are numerous subtle differences between the two types. Farish’s Freightliner HHA is still a superb model even though it’s 13 years old and the new HKA continues to maintain the high standards both in terms of shape and appearance but levels of detailing. While the DB red model is certainly eye catching, the weathered debranded National Power version is really quite superb. The representation of flaking paint around the hopper lip and a convincing dusting of dust/dirt on the bogies and lower bodysides is absolutely fantastic and, with an RRP of £49.95, only costs just a few pounds more than the ‘pristine’ version. The only missing decoration is the contrasting maroon colour on the bogie axleboxes.
FAULTLESS RUNNING
Under test, the HKAS ran faultlessly and with no perceptible wobbling. The couplers are mounted in NEM pockets mounted on the bogies and there is no close-coupling mechanism.
When built, the prototype wagons were either configured as ‘outers’, with conventional drawgear and buffers, or ‘inners’ with buckeye couplers. As supplied, these models represent ‘inners’, however also included is a bag of detail parts including cosmetic couplers, operating levers, air pipes and push-fit buffers to enable the models to depict ‘outers.’ An instruction sheet is also provided to illustrate where these parts can be fitted.
The result is another excellent modern wagon with high levels of detailing and superb livery rendition. (BA)
The representation of flaking paint around the hopper lip and a convincing dusting of dust/dirt on the bogies and lower bodysides is absolutely fantastic