I have made up loads in 4mm many times (I think my first one was a Peco Wonderful Wagons Tarmac wagon with tarpaulin'd load back in the 1960s) but this is the first attempt in 0 gauge.

The wagon is a Dapol BR 5 plank with opening side doors, perfect for a coal hole! The load is real coal on top of a styrene filler. Glues included scenic liquid glue and full strength liquid white glue. The latter was found to be necessary in the larger scale format in order to bed down the coal.

The problem with opening doors is that they need to be opened at the appropriate times. The resulting effect defies gravity but is better than not having the doors open at all.

So, here are the ingredients:

The styrene filler, painted black, is installed:

Coal is added, one area at a time:

The end result with one door open:

And now two doors open:

The load is basically fixed now, so what happens when the operations call for an unloaded wagon to be removed from the coal hole? Well, a magician's slight of hand will be called upon. Create a disturbance in the engine shed and quickly swap a full wagon for an empty one! That Hand of God again.

Needless to say, this wagon now needs to be weathered.