FNA-D 'New Generation' Nuclear Flask Carrier - Teal - Twin Pack C

Common Features:

• Highly-detailed OO gauge model, 1:76.2 scale on 16.5mm track
• Minimum Radius 438mm (2nd Radius)
• Ten individually numbered wagons packaged in two-car sets
• Bogies include separate brakeshoes in line with wheels and brake adjuster plus rotating axleboxes
• RP25-110 profile OO gauge wheels with space to fit EM (18.2mm) or P4 (18.83mm) wheels
• Sprung buffers and dummy screw couplings are included
• Super fine separate plastic, metal wire and etched metal detail parts, including air pipes, brake handwheel, hood opening equipment, brake equipment, grabs, warning label holders
• Kinetic NEM coupler mounts at correct height with mini-tension-lock couplers
• Working tail light on one vehicle in each pack. This will be powered by a pair of CR927 batteries and controlled by magnet switch

Additional Information

• Working Tail Lamp (The Tail Lamp model has a battery compartment under the flask hood and requires 2x CR927 Batteries to operate. Batteries Not Included.)

Description

A total of forty of these striking vehicles were built in three batches for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) by WH Davis in the UK between 2014 and 2019, numbered 11 70 9229 001-040. They are used for carrying spent fuel from nuclear power stations and sites undergoing decommissioning to the facility at Sellafield for reprocessing or storage. The FNA-D continues Accurascale's popular and well-regarded range of nuclear vehicles that includes the KUA bogie flask carrier and the PFA two-axle container flat.

The wagons, which also carry the UIC code ‘Uas’ are a like-for-like replacement for the iconic fleet of BR and Procor-built FNA nuclear flask wagons that were built between 1976 and 1988, now all scrapped. The major updates are bodysides with exposed framing and the distinctive Barber BER22.5 ‘Easy Ride’ low track force bogies. Internally the vessel support structures are designed to carry a wider range of flask designs. Accurascale has obsessively replicated these characteristic features in the smaller scale with a composite die-cast and plastic design that includes full underframe detail and brake equipment.

Despite the number of working nuclear power stations shrinking dramatically since the turn of the millennium, the FNA-D wagons can still be seen over much of the UK, usually between one and five wagons behind a pair of Direct Rail Services (DRS) locomotives. These operational sites are Hartlepool, Heysham 1 & 2, Torness and Sizewell B.

However, three closed locations are undergoing the de-fuelling process and shipping irradiated fuel rods to Sellafield: Dungeness B, Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B. Meanwhile, Valley loading point, for the former Wylfa facility on Anglesey, completed this process in 2019, but still sees irregular visits by flask trains, as does Georgemas Junction, which serves the experimental reactors at Dounreay.