Parkside Kits O Gauge PS609 W-609 BR 20 ton Pig Iron or Coil C Wagon Plastic Kit
These low sided wagons were used for carrying the heavy ingots of crude iron known as 'pigs' from the smelting furnace to the steelworks for refining into steel. Easy to assemble from the correctly coloured injection moulded component. Kits include Transfers. Buffers are sprung and 3-link couplings are included on all models, while the BR wagons also feature working axlebox springs and moveable brake levers. Fine scale metal tyred wheels on pin-point axles supplied, 3-hole disc for the BR types. Fully illustrated instructions included.
British Railways built 1,000 of these robust low-sided wagons to carry basic pig iron produced by blast furnaces for use in iron casting processes or further refining and conversion to steel. Later these wagons were used for carrying steel coils, lasting until the early 1980s.
This kit can be quite useful for settings between the 1950s and early 1980s, the wagons' 20-ton capacity was useful for carrying smaller consignments of iron and steel products. Pig iron was not usually moved far in large quantities as iron and steel works were normally closely situated, though iron would need to be delivered in smaller loads to foundries across Britain.
Later as Coil C wagons steel coils were moved to docks for export and to steel pressing plants for conversion into things like car body panels and washing machine enclosures. The coils were usually sheeted over or later wrapped with plastic sheet to prevent exposure to rain etc causing corrosion.