At one time, 5-plank wagons were highly numerous on the British rail network and often had their load sheeted over. They were used for the transportation of general merchandise. The British weather and the labour cost of protecting the load made them impractical and some were replaced by vans. However, it seems that many were privately owned and these were not usually replaced by privately owned vans. It is more likely that the wagons were replaced by the railway company's own vans.

Despite their decline in numbers, at Nationalisation, all four railway companies had orders placed for high goods wagons (5-planks) and these continued to arrive until the middle of 1949. The continual need for wagon replacement meant that British Railways continued to produce 5-plank wagons until 1957. These were based on an LMS design with pressed steel ends and many had tarpaulin bars ('Highbarfit'). They also manufactured a number of similar sized 'Highfit' steel open wagons to an LNER design. In the 1960s some were allocated to china clay traffic and the transportation of shingle.

The Bachmann model was based on a 17’6" planked open wagon and was originally tooled in 1978 by Kader for the Mainline Railways range. When it came to replacing the original 5-plank wagon under the Blue Riband programme, Bachmann decided to produce two variants instead of the one design. Externally they look the same but inside, one has the representation of a steel floor and the other of a wooden floor.