Rapido Trains UK 963017 LMS Iron Ore Hopper - NCB No.47391746

Constructed between the early-1920s and mid-1930s the LMS produced numerous Iron Ore Hoppers using a variety of diagram numbers, however, for the most part, they looked identical. Built by several contractors the diagram 1893, 1894, 1941, and 1942s only differed with the steel that was used to construct them and a handful of buffer varieties.

With a carrying capacity of 20 tons, the Iron Ore wagons were used for carrying a plethora of raw materials throughout their lifetime, and received numerous extensions, additions and alternations in their later life to accommodate their new owners.

Several were converted to carry lime, as such they required a covered roof with a loading hatch. These were issued a new diagram number as Dia. 2194.

The original design clearly proved its worth, as they found several industrial homes once BR had finished with them. The National Coal Board acquired large numbers, to increase their overall carrying capacity many wagons were further fitted with wooden planked tops that they dubbed ‘greedy boards’.

Other more specialised railways also inherited a handful of these multipurpose hoppers, with versions being spotted alongside the eclectic rolling stock of the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, and even some going into service for the British Sugar Corporation.

A number of LMS 20t iron ore hoppers have thankfully survived into preservation, including the several versions that the lovely folks at Rocks by Rail at Cottesmore kindly let us survey for this project.

This model will be the very first hopper wagon produced by Rapido Trains UK, and we are aiming to set the bar as high as our existing range of other rolling stock. Our model features the usual wealth of detail, tooling variants to cover a selection of the diagrams, a hatched peak roof, and greedy board version, and metal bearings that will help with the smooth running of the inevitably heavily laden train.