British Railways built a large number of bogie bolster wagons between 1949 and 1962.
The 52ft long version was originally known as a 'Bogie Bolster D'. Following the move to
air braked trains, after 1964, 1,250 of these were rebuilt to become BDA bogie bolster
wagons under TOPS, the first vehicle being converted at Swindon in 1975. BDAs were used
for the conveyance of mainly metal products such as steel rods, girders etc. but, with the
decline of that traffic, those remaining are used in departmental service, mainly for
carrying rail to and from work sites. 388 BDA wagons remained in service on the national
network in 2008.
The N gauge model is new this year and two of the initial three versions are seen here. These are BR Railfreight 950954 (377-601) in red livery and EWS 950026 (377-602) in maroon. Both models come with two girders as a load and a pack of load holding pins in plastic. The latter are so small that I found it impossible to locate them for the photograph and eventually abandoned the task.