ACCURASCALE TACKLES THE WHOLE MGR FAMILY
Accurascale continues its mission to replicate the most important BR era wagons by announcing a comprehensive range of wagons relating to the iconic MGR hopper. On the bill will be the HAA, HBA, HCA, HDA, HFA, HMA and HNA as well as the CDA china clay hoppers. Almost 11,000 of these wagons were built between 1964 and 1982, with 98% of them assembled at Shildon Works.
Initially built with four internal strengthening bars spanning both bodysides, these were quickly damaged resulting in a significant loss in structural integrity. Towards the end of the 1970s, Doncaster Works began fitting horizontal strengthening beams along the inside top edges, with wagons built after 1977 featured this from new.
With the closure of collieries, coal trains began travelling longer distances and BR began fitting canopies in an attempt to reduce spillage of coal dust. Unfortunately, this increase in height meant many collieries couldn’t accept them. In the early 1990s, an aerodynamic canopy was introduced to solve the problem.
As an extra treat, the later MHA ballast/spoil wagons, built on reclaimed HAA chassis, is also being offered.
As we have come to expect from Accurascale, there will be a large variety in tooling to account for detail differences throughout the wagons’ service life. The full breakdown of the tooling suite is as follows:
◆CDA china clay covered hopper
◆HAA/HOP AB as-built body
◆HBA ‘rebodied’-style body with uprated brakes/suspension and ‘aerodynamic’ canopy (EX-HDA)
◆HCA/HOP 32 AB with ‘as-built’style body and canopy
◆HDA ‘rebodied’-style body with uprated brakes/suspension
◆HMA ‘rebodied’ with modified brake distributor (EX-HAA)
◆MHA with later-style body
◆HAA rebodied
◆HFA rebodied with ‘aerodynamic’ canopy
◆HNA ‘rebodied’ with modified brake distributor and ‘aerodynamic’ canopy (EX-HFA)
◆MHA early-style body
◆CBA lime hopper
◆MAA/MAB box open (EX-HAA) A staggering 23 different triple-packs will form the first production run and these will be split into two batches, but all are expected to be in stock by the middle of 2022. HAA, HCA and CDA wagons are due at the end of 2021 with the others due in Q2 2022. Accurascale has also said it will cover all the liveries from BR freight brown to DB red.
Each triple-pack will be priced at £74.95 with a 10% discount if two or more packs are bought together.