Hornby 4-plank Open Wagon
For a long time British model manufacturers had been reproducing private owner liveries
on their open wagons but all were using a 9’6" or 10’ wheelbase chassis.
This was fine for later wagons but all too often older liveries were being stretch to make
them fit a model body that was greater in scale length than the real wagon it was meant to
represent. Early wagons were smaller and 9’ wheelbase chassis were once commonplace
and so, for 1995, Hornby tooled up a 9’ chassis for a new range of private owner
wagons. 
They also adopted three
wagon heights not already in their range; these were the 3-plank, 4-plank and 6-plank. The
wagons were originally marketed as a new series under a ‘1st Authentic Rolling
Stock’ logo with specially decorated packaging but later they were absorbed into the
general wagon range.
While 5-planks were the standard high-sided wagons, where non-mineral commodities had to be moved, the 4-plank version was sometimes built for industrial customers rather than the railway companies. Since the model first appeared in the Hornby catalogue, 34 versions of it have appeared; however, many of them were existing designs with new running numbers. The four most recent releases are: 'Stevens & Co.' No.103 in red-brown (R6524), 'Bickershaw' No.624 in red-brown (R6525), 'Scatter Rock Macadams' No.130 in light grey (R6526) and 'Duxbury Park Colliery' No.191 in red (R6523).
