Canadian Price: $95.99   UK RRP: £69.95

British Railways 24.5-ton HOP24 / HUO hopper wagon - B333786, B334997 & B335236

Common features:

• Pack of three wagons, each with individual numbers and decoration
• NEM standard coupler pockets
• Narrow tension lock couplers included
• RP25.110 darkened profile sets
• Metal 3-hole disc wagon wheels on metal axles - 12.6mm
• Extra fine factory-fitted detail plastic parts and sprung buffers
• Individual lettering and codes from real wagons for authenticity

Introduced in 12 seperate batches between 1954 and 1965, a total of 5,263 of these 24.5-ton capacity hoppers were built for British Railways (BR), with 11 of the batches constructed at the company's Shildon wagon works and one - the last 0 built by Pressed Steel. Tasked mainly with hauling coal and coke from collieries and coke plants to power stations and ports throughout Great Britain, they displaced older open wagons from such services and were regarded as precursors to modern 'Merry-go-Round' (MGR) coal hoppers. They ran from 1954 to 1987, and many survived into private colliery and power plant use.

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