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Accurascale ACC1022

BR 16T Mineral - 1/108 - BR Freight Grey (Original text on black panels) - Pack B

Manufacturer catalogue image - please note that pre-release images may be CAD renders or CGI/AI images rather than photographs

Prototype Eras
Era 4 (1948 to 1956) British Railways Early Crest
Era 5 (1956 to 1966) British Railways Late Crest
Era 7 (1972 to 1982) British Rail Blue (TOPS)

Manufacturer description

Seen as very much the ‘missing link’ in the ‘Powering Britain’ range, the 16 ton mineral wagon is an essential addition to the Accurascale range to tell the story of coal traffic on the railways throughout the 20th century. The archetypal BR 16 ton all-steel non-hoppered mineral wagon proliferated across the United Kingdom’s railway network during the 1950s and 1960s and there was probably not a siding, freight yard or industrial railway system in the country that did not house at least an example or three of these vitally important, yet mundane railway vehicles.

Catalogue listing

Model details

Prototype information

Accurascale has released a new model of the BR 16T mineral wagon in freight grey livery with original black panels, as part of their 'Powering Britain' range. This model is a triple pack, containing three wagons with numbers B256609, B151807, and B124392.

The model features a die-cast metal chassis with a plastic body, weighing 37g excluding the coal load. It has a scale length of 78mm over buffers and 34.53mm wide, with a wheelbase of 36mm allowing it to operate on a minimum radius of 1:1.

The model includes separately fitted side, top, and end doors, as well as metal 3-hole wheels with chemically blackened RP25-110 standard axles. The wheels are set in blackened brass bearings, conforming to Accurascale's standards of 14.4mm back-to-back on 2mm axles over 26mm pinpoints.

The model features eroded metal, plastic, and wire detail parts, including handrails, grab handles, side-door handles, lamp brackets, brake gear, draw gear, 3-link and Instanter couplings, and turned metal sprung buffers.

The BR 16T mineral wagon has a long history, dating back to the 1940s when the Ministry of War Transport created diagrams for two 9ft wheelbase, 16 ton, all-steel, end door mineral wagons. The first production wagons were built in 1944, and by the end of the war, over 6,500 wagons had been produced. After the war, British Railways continued to build the wagons, and by 1955, over 127,000 had been constructed.

The Ideal Stocks Committee's report in 1950 recommended the elimination of grease lubricated wagons, leading to a new 'standard' design being introduced. This design was carried out to two diagrams, 1/108 and 1/109, both of which had unfitted Morton two-shoe brakegear and side top-flap doors. The 1/109 type had a smaller capacity and was nominally smaller than the 1/108 type.

Between 1951 and 1959, a total of 221,123 1/108 and 1/109 16T mineral wagons were built, making it the biggest wagon building programme in British railway history. The programme was suspended in the late 1950s due to operating problems, and withdrawals began in the 1960s. The wagons were eventually phased out in the 1980s, with many being scrapped or re-bodied.