New mineral wagon for 'OO'

ZDV no. LDB311717 was noted as being used by the Electrification Engineers for collecting scrap metal during the latter stages of the Birmingham Cross City Electrification scheme between Lichfield and Ridditch, in the period between May 1991 (when the first129 electrification mast was planted) and June 1993 (when load bank testing was completed).

Accurascale’s latest release captures the worn look of this long-lived wagon, featuring 'slapdash' paint work and markings, including its TOPS reclassification from MDV. The model is now in production alongside the rest of Accurascale’s MDO and MDV run and is expected to be in stock with the manufacturer in Q2, 2023 at £24.95 per wagon. Each model is to arrive in special presentation packaging with a certificate. The entire run of wagons is limited to 500 models.

Few photographs exist of LDB311717, other than the common view of the wagon in the yard at Kings Norton in January 1993, although a later photograph exists showing it in use as a spoil/scrap dump (probably at Three Bridges); rusting and immobile, and by 2005 it had been removed from TOPS.

Few MDVs are known to have been used in Departmental traffic, where they would have been recorded as ZDV or ZYV and by 1999 just LDB311717 survived, being allocated to contractor Fastline at Doncaster – a survivor that hung on well into the 2000s.

For further details on this latest model, visit the Accurascale website.

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