Great Western Railway & BR

In the mid 1880's the GWR produced a prototype horse box to diagram N5. This was introduced into service in 1889. The GWR then produced 50 Horse Boxes to a revised drawing, the subject of this model. The changes being relatively minor,the most obvious being the replacement of the tumblehome on the ends and sides with a flat profile . The basic underframe was similar, though the production vehicles used a standard pattern triangular tie-bars between brake gear compared to the more rugged, possibly 'agricultural', outside brake gear of the N5 pattern horse box.

The production order for 50 vehicles of this pattern was started in 1889 and completed in two distinct batches completed in 1891. Of the original 50 six were scrapped between 1927 and 1929, with the gradual phasing out of the design in the mid 1930's. The sole exception was No 603 which was converted by adding a loading gauge for tunnel inspection in 1933. It was finally withdrawn in 1961.

Batch 1 comprised 30 vehicles numbered 581-610. No 598 was withdrawn between 1928-1929, no 600 was withdrawn in 1937.

Batch 2 comprised 20 vehicles, numbered 671-690. No 678, 680, 682-3 & 685 were withdrawn between 1928-1929, no 686 was withdrawn in 1938.

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Made from etched brass our model has a preformed brass roof and includes white metal axle boxes and springs; turned brass sprung buffers with white metal roof detailing parts. This horse box comes with rocking w-irons integral with the etches. A plastic floor and partition are supplied. Our instruction sheet includes detailed lettering and painting information. To download the most recent assembly instructions, current Version 3.00 released October 2001, 4 Sides A4 (106Kb Acrobat 3.01 file).

To read the instructions you will need Adobe Acrobat reader (v3.01 or better). Click 'Get Acrobat Reader' to get a copy of Acrobat Reader: Note this may involve a long download of between 0.5 Mb & 8 Mb depending on the selected version.

Don't understand our terminology? most terms and phrases are explained in our glossary.

Items required to complete the model:-

• Wheels: 14mm diameter Mansell wheels.
• Paint - we recommend Precision Paint or in some cases Humbrol Acrylic: see Great Western liveries for product numbers.
• Paint and wheels are available from our sister company Wizard Models.

To

this wagon click Wizard Models.

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Pictorial History of Great Western Coaches (Part 1 1838-1913) Including brown vehicles J H Russell, P23

A list of railway book sellers may be found here.

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