BR Dia. 1/191OAA Open Wagon

[rapidoandy]

Rapido Trains UK has immortalised BR’s first ‘new generation’ wagon in ‘OO’ gauge.

 

BR undertook much research to produce a new wagon underframe suitable for the 1970s railway and the first vehicle to benefit from this research was the 45t Open AB open wagon, better known as OAA. Ashford Works built the 100 OAAs (Nos. 100000-100099) in 1971.The new 20ft 9in wheelbase underframe, with air brakes and upgraded running gear, would go on to be used on the VBA and VDA vans as well as on developments of the OAA, including the OBA and OCA opens.

 

 

As part of BR’s air-braked network (a fore runner of Speedlink), the OAAs could be found across the network. But as newer wagons were introduced some were relegated to departmental duties or were adapted for other duties, such as those modified to carry Redland roof tiles.

 

The OAAs continued to be useful, however, particularly for carrying concrete blocks from Foster Yeoman’s Merehead quarry to Acton. EWS rebuilt a batch of OAAs in the late 1990s for this work, replacing worn wooden doors with mesh.

 

 

We’re particularly proud of the planned decoration on these models. We’ve gone to great lengths to not only replicate the different positions of the numbers and logos but we’re also replicating models that have received ‘bodged’ repaints. That extends to repainting the odd replaced door timber to whole ends that have been repaired to one wagon where nearly the whole body has received a non-standard colour.

 

It’s available to order now. RRP is £39.95. The order book closes on July 1st 2022.

 

 

[darrel]

They look fabulous can see my old Hornby ones being retired. 

Of course the chassis would be useful for VDA vans and OTA timber wagons, assuming these sell well first

[hmrspaul]

Not suitable for a VDA - a different frame and brake rigging

 

https://rapidotrains.co.uk/br-diagram-1-191-oaa-open-wagon/

 

Some inspiration

 

SKU: 915001    https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e350c0551  100093 OPEN AB ABN @ Warrington Central 80-08-18 

 

SKU: 915002    https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e31d6f356  100018 At Cardiff Docks 09-81

 

SKU: 915003   https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e341d159e 100054 OAA Sheerness Steel 80-08-24

 

SKU: 915004  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e32dc0aa6  100066 OAA OPEN AB ABN @ Rochester 80-08-24

 

SKU: 915005  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e51e5fe8  100016 OAA Open AB @ Rochester 80-08-24 

 

SKU: 915006  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e3862bb98  100029 OAA @ Westbury 83-06-26  [very unusual layout of writing]

 

SKU: 915007  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e20b3546f  100026 OAA @ Cardiff Tidal Sidings 81-09-04

 

SKU: 915008  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e25a41065 100040 OAA @ Kilmarnock 84-07-23 

 

SKU: 915009  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e33c61cb9  100020 OAA @ Gloucester 88-08-20

 

SKU: 915010  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e2e533579   100004  at Westbury April 1987 - newly painted

 

SKU: 915011  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e2e14855c  100081 At Immingham Feb 1988

 

SKU: 915012  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e2ba1be8a  At Immingham April 1988

 

SKU: 915014  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e370697bd   100021 OAA @ Hoo Junction 82-10-03

 

SKU: 915015  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e22f00990  100072 OAA @ Mossend 84-05-28

 

SKU: 915016  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/broaa/e174a946b  DC100065 ZDA Civil link SQUID@ Bescot 88-10-09 

 

Paul 

 

 

[John M Upton]

Nice if it were to be shrunk to N scale as well.  Whilst we have an excellent modern OBA and OCA, the OAA is still the ye ancient Poole version.

[Enterprisingwestern]

9 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Nice if it were to be shrunk to N scale as well.  Whilst we have an excellent modern OBA and OCA, the OAA is still the ye ancient Poole version.

 

Tough!

Let us 4mm guys have some fun!

 

Mike,

[Matt]

Great announcement - have been surprised not announced before. Of course the OAA under frame went under other things so here’s hoping….   FPA would be nice!!
 

[James Makin]

Absolutely superb news! I can’t wait to get my dirty hands on some and weather them into oblivion like the wrecks they became! 😄

 

It’d also be fun if it prompts a new Speedlink tangent for Rapido such as the VCA Van, the notable missing one from Bachmann’s current line up.

 

Cheers,

James

[andythenorth]

A welcome surprise 🙂

Edited April 15, 2022 by andythenorth

[thohurst]

This is brilliant! Past the era I model but looks like I'll be buying a few anyways 😉

[black and decker boy]

11 hours ago, Matt said:

Great announcement - have been surprised not announced before. Of course the OAA under frame went under other things so here’s hoping….   FPA would be nice!!
 

FPA & coal container would fill a huge gap, not just for Scottish modellers but seen in England & towards the end, in Wales too.

[Mophead45143]

Can anyone please advise what the 'Corpach' pool was all about, and when the ABN yellow spots were applied please?

 

Definitely interested in a few of these!

 

Regards,

 

Cameron

[guzzler17]

1 hour ago, Mophead45143 said:

 when the ABN yellow spots were applied please?

 

 

http://igg.org.uk/rail/7-fops/fo-abn.htm

[Covkid]

17 hours ago, Matt said:

Great announcement - have been surprised not announced before. Of course the OAA under frame went under other things so here’s hoping….   FPA would be nice!!
 

 

5 hours ago, black and decker boy said:

FPA & coal container would fill a huge gap, not just for Scottish modellers but seen in England & towards the end, in Wales too.

 

Oh yes.  6E07 Coedbach - Immingham which was a Transrail flow during the Trainload era prior to EWS.  In the pressure to "privatise" the TLF business a huge effort was made for Bescot drivers to learn Wakefield and Immingham in order to run Transrail flows deep into the territory of Loadhaul.  so Bescot drivers would work 6E07 from Newport to Landor St, for relief by another BS driver to work via Lincoln to Immingham then pass back.  Another driver would book on and pass to Immingham to work back to Landor St, for more relief on 6V?? back to Newport.  The traffic was JG Russell containers on FPA flats but there were loads of problems with brake, particularly brake pipes.  

[ColinK]

A much better choice than the ferry wagon which is too long for my layout. I’ll be ordering  a couple of OAA’s for my layout through my local model shop as its important to keep them in business.

[SForrest10]

An RRA wagon may be popular with the soon to be released YLA wagons from Revolution trains and all the existing BDA wagons. They saw plenty of use with pipes and oversized steel products and would make an interesting train formation.

[young37215]

Like others, I am interest in the 'Corpach pool' . Can anyone explain what this is/was?

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

I would imagine the Corpach Pool OAA's replaced the Timber P's  on Corpach paper mill traffic from Crianlarich, unless anyone knows any different?

The mill closed in the early 2000's I think, so maybe the OAA's were the last wagons used on this traffic.

 

Mike.

[Rivercider]

On 16/04/2022 at 09:33, Mophead45143 said:

Can anyone please advise what the 'Corpach' pool was all about, and when the ABN yellow spots were applied please?

 

Definitely interested in a few of these!

 

Regards,

 

Cameron

I am not sure when the yellow ABN spots were first applied, but the first Air Brake Network services started running in October 1972, between Bristol and Glasgow. By 1976 there were 18 trains a night on 9 routes, increasing to 24 trains a night on 12 routes in October 1976. The Air Brake Network was rebranded as Speedlink in September 1977, though many vehicles would continue to carry the yellow spot for many years until repainted.

 

cheers

[markw]

3 hours ago, young37215 said:

Like others, I am interest in the 'Corpach pool' . Can anyone explain what this is/was?

It will be for reels of paper.

 

[03060]

6 hours ago, young37215 said:

Like others, I am interest in the 'Corpach pool' . Can anyone explain what this is/was?

 

5 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I would imagine the Corpach Pool OAA's replaced the Timber P's  on Corpach paper mill traffic from Crianlarich, unless anyone knows any different?

The mill closed in the early 2000's I think, so maybe the OAA's were the last wagons used on this traffic.

 

Mike.

 

There were two types of 'mill' on the Corpach site from 1963.

 

One being the Chemical Pulp Mill for which the Timber P wagons were used to deliver raw cut logs from the Crianlarich area for pulping, this closed in Oct 1980 making these wagons redundant.

 

The other type of mill on site was the Paper Making Mill which continued production until 2005.

 

Baled wood pulp was also used to supplement the raw logs until 1980 when this form of pulp completely replaced the rail delivered logs altogether, this seems to have been delivered in various types of sheeted open wagons, although I have seen one photo showing another type of Standard Timber wagon in use in the late 1970's.

 

This, I suspect, was the use of the Corpach Pool OAAs however I've only ever noticed OBAs and an odd OCA on traffic quoted as being from Methil Docks even though I've seen plenty of photos and film of many empty OAAs in the Fort William area. Paul Bartlett's site has at least one photo of a brown OAA with small 'Corpach' lettering on the side.

 

There are also many photos showing sheeted open wagons travelling South from Corpach / Fort William which have puzzled me a little as I thought reeled Newsprint paper was mainly produced at Corpach which was then transported in vans. I know that carbon paper for receipts, etc was also produced so maybe this was boxed or sheeted into piles which would explain the 'squareness' look of the loads under the tarpaulin covers travelling South.

 

Whether the OAAs were used on a specific flow is what I think Rob ( @young37215 ) and myself would like to know if possible as it's not clear from the information that I've found so far.    (See above Post for answer !)

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

I'm supposed to be attempting to build a couple of 'trial' N gauge Timber P wagons today but have already wasted most of my day ....oh well, maybe next week.

Edited April 17, 2022 by 03060
The previous Post only seen afterwards !

[03060]

This superb 1982 image by Chris Davis on flickr illustrates my observations regarding the above post.

 

 

Edited April 18, 2022 by 03060
Didn't praise the image enough, which self embedded !

[Enterprisingwestern]

22 hours ago, Rivercider said:

I am not sure when the yellow ABN spots were first applied, but the first Air Brake Network services started running in October 1972, between Bristol and Glasgow. By 1976 there were 18 trains a night on 9 routes, increasing to 24 trains a night on 12 routes in October 1976. The Air Brake Network was rebranded as Speedlink in September 1977, though many vehicles would continue to carry the yellow spot for many years until repainted.

 

cheers

 

Going on my somewhat infallible memory, weren't the early yellow spots lettered circuit which then became ABN or what that something different?

 

Mike.

[westie7]

On 16/04/2022 at 06:47, black and decker boy said:

FPA & coal container would fill a huge gap, not just for Scottish modellers but seen in England & towards the end, in Wales too.

 

Surely this is a way to get a low height FBA, FBB too

[E100]

Would love to see these in a double / triple pack with a small discount.

[hmrspaul]

13 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Going on my somewhat infallible memory, weren't the early yellow spots lettered circuit which then became ABN or what that something different?

 

Mike.

Different; I think it is simply that Yellow is noticeable. 

The Circuit spots were introduced in early 1960s and 'pointed' to the destination clip which had a permanent backing that showed the circuit the wagon was in, or where they should be empty to. It replaced the writing of "Return to.... " and was superseded by Pool numbers. 

 

ABN yellow spots were introduced in the early 1970s - the suggestion is that the first use was Bristol to Glasgow sometime in 1972and a small network developed which was renamed as Speedlink from September 1977. 

 

Paul