ICI Bogie Limestone Hoppers Return In OO/4mm Gauge

Hattons Original favourites, the ICI Bogie Limestone hoppers join the Accurascale Exclusive lineup! 

 Yes, We've managed to secure another of the tooling suites from ex-retailer Hattons in the form of the extremely popular ICI Bogie hoppers, joining our 'Moving Britain' range.

History

The ICI bogie limestone hopper was one of the first bulk bogie hoppers built, with the design dating as far back as 1931 with the LMS. The Vacuum only wagons were ordered by ICI Limited to transport crushed limestone from Tunstead quarry in Derbyshire (Peak Forest), to the Soda Ash plants at Northwich in Cheshire. Each wagon could carry 43.5 tonnes, the gross weight being 66.5 tonnes. They take the historical distinction of being the first ‘block freight’ train.

A total of 152 wagons were built by Charles Roberts in Horbury between 1936 and 1953 in three batches, the first batch of 84 wagons numbered 3200-3283, the second batch of 36 in 1945 numbered 3284-3319, and the final batch 3320-3351 in 1951. With a working lifespan of 62 years, these wagons became part of the Peak District scenery and were very robustly built workhorses. The fleet had a few subtle differences, the most obvious being the ICI plate lettering on the hopper sides, 3200-3283 had the smaller type, and 3284-3319 having the larger lettering. As time went on, the lettering was removed completely on overhaul but the odd wagon managed to keep it or retain the scars from where it used to be. Generally the wagons were in pretty good condition up until the end of their working lives.

The ‘BSC’ Iron Ore hoppers. These 123 ‘unfitted’ wagons followed on from the ICI hoppers and were built between 1952-1958 for John Summers and were very similar in design. The biggest tell tale is they are 5.6 inches shorter than the ICI wagons so are easily spotted in a rake because they are lower in height. The wagons passed to British Steel in the 1970s, and by 1980 were becoming surplus from British Steel Shotton. With perfect timing, BR was obliged to replace 13 wagons which were lost in accidents and scrapped between 1980-82, and ICI purchased most of the remaining wagons to increase capacity, also adding vacuum brakes and ICI lettering. The remaining purchased wagons (around 90) were used as a source of spares which surrendered their newer plate style bogies to the original build of 84 ICI hoppers built with diamond open frame bogies to standardise the fleet. The surplus BSC hoppers were sold as internal users or scrapped. These ex-BSC hoppers were mixed in with the ICI fleet and survived until the end, and the original Baldwin diamond frame bogies had all been replaced by the mid 1980s.

The wagons have seen a variety of traction over the years, being hauled by LMS and BR 4F and 8F locomotives, followed by the Sulzer Type 2s (Class 24/25s) into the 1980s. Pairs of Class 20s were trialled from 1982 and by 1985 had seen some braking modifications. This led to a new subclass being created in 1986, the Class 20/3, and featured further braking modifications (not to be confused with the Class 20/3 conversions for DRS) but the subclass and conversion project was dropped by late 1986 replaced by single Class 47s. This gave way to the famous pairs of Class 37s hauling these trains across the Derbyshire scenery. Other classes such as 3F, 9F, Co-Bo, 31, 40, and 45 lending a hand too. Wagon rakes varied from 11 in the early 8F days, to 24-28 with a pair of Class 37s up front.

The wagons remained in service into the 1990s, usually hauled by a pair of Class 37s, withdrawal from mainline duties came in December 1997. The main reason for their withdrawal apart from their age was that the entire fleet were vacuum brake only, and EWS were unable to commit to providing reliable pairs of Class 37s as the years went on. Classes 56 and 60 were air brake only and no use for this traffic flow, and with the Class 66 invasion planned, the situation wasn’t going to change. Comment was made by one of the scrapyards that these wagons were so solidly built they were very difficult to cut up, and still had lots of life left in them. A credit to Charles Roberts build quality all those years ago.

The wagons were replaced from 1997 by redundant two axle PGA hoppers dating from 1979-1981, hauled by pairs of Class 37s or a single Class 60. Several ICI Hoppers are preserved in various places, both ICI and BSC types being represented.

The Model

A welcome addition to the 00 gauge ready-to-run scene when first released, these bogie hopper wagons formed part of the "Hattons Originals" range and have been highly sought since previous production runs sold out.