New Announcement! HUO in 7mm Scale

New Announcement! HUO in 7mm Scale

Stephen McCarron
Today is the dawn of a new era for us here at Accurascale, as we announce our entrance into the O gauge British outline model railway market with the release of the 24.5 Ton HOP24 / HUO hopper wagon in factory finished, ready to run format.
A total of 5,263 of these wagons were built by British Railways from 1954 for transporting coal and coke throughout Britain until their withdrawal in the mid-1980s.
The model is of the 3121 (1958), 3221 (1959), 3314 (1960), 3374 (1961), 3426 (1962 – listed 1/154 pattern but the design is actually identical), and 3437 (1962) pattern. The surviving prototypes were surveyed by us at the Tanfield Railway, near Stanley, County Durham in mid-October 2017.
As many of you already know, our first model for the British market was the highly acclaimed HOP24 / HUO in 4mm scale (just check out the latest Rail Express, Model Rail and indeed the feedback from happy campers on the RMWeb thread!) Following the announcement of this model, there were many calls from 7mm outline modellers for an O gauge equivalent. We have responded to this request by designing a 7mm model based on drawings and measurements taken last October.
CAD work started from scratch and is now complete, with additional detailing packed into the design. The O gauge wagon will feature 104 separate parts, including compensated axles and die-cast chassis.
A range of eight different wagons will be produced, each featuring different running numbers and lettering, all taken from prototype photos and painstaking research. There will be four wagons in pre-1973 condition suitable for 1958 – 1973 operation, and four TOPS variants which will be at home on 1973 – 1986 based layouts.
The impressive specification of these wagons includes:
  • Completely new CAD
  • Die-cast chassis providing weight for reliable running
  • Compensated axle boxes
  • Instanter coupling chain with sprung coupling hook
  • Fine profile wheels and axles with brass bearing pockets
  • Metal sprung buffers
  • Extra fine factory-fitted detail plastic and metal parts
  • Individual lettering and codes from real wagons for authenticity
Each wagon is sold separately for £49.95, with two bundle deals on offer. Buy any four pre-TOPS or TOPS variants together for £180, or all eight running numbers for £350. Free shipping is available on all orders over £100 from our site to the UK and Ireland. How about that for amazing value?
Delivery is slated for December 2018.
(And before our N gauge friends crucify us by saying “We called for them too! We’re looking into it, we promise!)
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When we launched our Powering Britain range, the aim was simple: tell the story of Britain's rail freight revolution through the iconic wagons that powered the nation. From merry-go-round hoppers to the birth of the railways, every wagon has played its part. Today we're delighted to reveal the next chapter in that story with the announcement of one of the most requested British freight wagons of recent years... The BR 32.5t HBA/HEA Domestic Coal Hopper! For over three decades these rugged wagons were a familiar sight across every corner of the British Rail network. Whether working lengthy domestic coal block trains, Speedlink services or mixed freight formations, the HEA became the standard wagon for Britain's domestic coal traffic. Yet despite a fleet approaching 2,000 wagons and a career stretching from the mid-1970s right through to the 2010s, the HEA has never truly received the high-fidelity ready-to-run treatment it deserves in OO gauge. Until now. A New Standard for Domestic Coal By the mid-1970s British Rail recognised the need to replace its ageing fleet of unfitted mineral wagons inherited from the steam era. While the HAA merry-go-round hopper had transformed power station coal traffic, it wasn't suited to the wider domestic coal network. Its automatic discharge equipment made it expensive to build and maintain, and many coal merchants simply didn't require such sophistication. Instead, BR developed a simpler, more versatile design. The prototype HBA, numbered 360000, emerged from Shildon Works in 1975. Its all-steel construction, manually operated hopper doors and air-braked running gear proved an immediate success, leading to the construction of 1,998 production wagons between 1976 and 1979. Initially finished in traditional BR Bauxite, many later received the striking Railfreight red and grey livery introduced in 1979, although weathered bauxite examples remained a common sight for decades afterwards. 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