New Accurascale NCB HTV Internal User wagons

Prototype

The widespread withdrawal of 21t hoppers from the mainline network led to many being repurposed by BR or sold on to private companies for internal use. One such operator was the National Coal Board, who had a coal disposal site and washery at Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, South Wales. The railhead was operated by Powell Duffryn Coal Preparation, and they required a fleet of internal user wagons for the transfer of coal around the site.

During the early 1990s this fleet, made up from redundant HTV’s and HEA’s received the striking green and grey livery seen on these models. The wagons would see use right through the decade, until the site was mothballed in 1999.

The Model

Each wagon features a wealth of separately applied detail, from handrails on the diecast chassis and hopper ends to the intricate brake gear and hopper operating mechanism underneath, all museum quality detail and prototypical accuracy modellers now come to expect from Accurascale wagons.

As well as a diecast chassis with full hopper detail, each wagon rides on 26mm axles, which are 2mm in diameter, with pin points in brass bearing cups for ultimate smooth performance and ease of conversion to finescale tolerances.

With the wagons announced later in development to curb waiting times, this pack is already at decoration stage and Accurascale are about to begin production of these wagons in the coming weeks. Delivery of the models to customers is currently estimated at Q3 2025. Both wagon packs will be a one-off, limited production run in special presentation packaging like all models in the Accurascale Exclusives range.

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