It is strange how things sometimes turn full circle. That can certainly be said of the recently released set of three PGA hopper wagons by Hornby.

Lima were the first to produce a ready-to-run PGA aggregates hopper wagon and their model was accurately based on a prototype which was a development of the early 1970s builds of Foster Yeoman/ARC PGAs. Hornby were keen to offer a model and chose a good prototype, most of which entered traffic with Redland Aggregates, Derbyshire Stone and others.

It was in 1980 that Lima first included aggregate hopper wagons in their catalogue but it was not until 1988 that Hornby followed suit. When they did consider it as a possible new wagon, someone was sent out to the local model shop and bought a few Lima wagons to examine. These were re-sprayed in a variety of colour schemes and became pre-production samples.

Not only were they re-liveried but they also underwent some structural change. The Lima wagon had two ladders at each end which faced the buffers. On the pre-production samples, prepared in the Hornby factory, the ladders and handrails were replaced so that the ladders (which were made of metal on the samples) came down either side of the wagon. Four pre-production samples have survived and these are finished as Tarmac, Tilbury, Yeoman and RMC PGAs.

Having decided to go ahead with the project, Hornby ignored their samples and prepared their own drawings which showed no intention to copy the Lima model. Indeed the hopper was longer, its supports were differently spaced and it did not contain an internal divider. The chassis was also quite different and peculiar to this model. It was also decided that the model should have plastic ladders and these were part of each end gantry moulding.