Chatham wagons from Rapido
RAPIDO Trains has announced two South Eastern & Chatham Railway wagons in OO-scale – its first British models to be designed in the UK.
They represent one seven-plank open wagon and two different diagrams of five-plank open wagons. The seven-plank design was the SECR's most numerous wagon type, with more than 2000 built between 1915 and 1927 and classified Diagram 1355 by the Southern Railway.
The five-plank wagons shared the same underframe, with 550 examples built to SR Diagram 1347 and another 150 to the almost identical Diagram 1349. Examples of Diagram 1347 are preserved at the Bluebell and Severn Valley railways, while the Bluebell also has three of the seven-plank vehicles.
The models, which are now at the engineering prototype stage, are expected to arrive in early 2022. They are priced at £32.95 each, and orders must be placed by September 1 this year – for more details, visit the website www.rapidotrains.co.uk
Sales and marketing manager Richard Foster said: “It is Rapido Trains UK's long-term aspiration to undertake some manufacturing in the UK. Having a UK design team is the first step towards that. These wagons have been researched and designed 100% in the UK. All we've done is to send the completed CADs to our factory in China for manufacturing.”