1959 saw construction start on a series of four lots of vacuum braked wagons to a brand new design and are the focus of this expansion. The wagons were all built at Derby works between 1959 and 1961 and would eventually number some 165 wagons. With a carrying capacity of 50T the wagons were constructed from riveted plates and had a considerable, instantly recognisable ‘fishbelly’ under-frame and rode on 8ft plate back bogies. A series of lashing rings were positioned along the under-frame and handbrake wheels could be found at each end. As fully fitted wagons they were naturally out shopped in fitted brown livery.
There were two variations of BORAIL constructed with different types of traffic in mind. By far the largest group were those 135 built to dia. 1/483 with 5 bolsters for the carrying of finished rail for fabrication or export. A further 30 wagons were constructed using the same under-frame but without the bolsters. These wagons were designed for carrying pre-stressed concrete beams and had flush sockets on the deck to locate stanchions as required.
Although designed with two specific traffic uses in mind photographs show that they were looked on as ‘handy’ for a number of other uses including carrying vehicles. Naturally they were pressed into service to carry items longer than other bolster wagons could handle without the need for runner wagons. However, they also seem to have found a lot of use in carrying exceptional loads either as spacers or for carrying the load itself. In some pictures the bolster fitted wagons can be seen with their bolsters removed to carry alternative loads including deck sections for the Humber Bridge.
The BRV 50T BORAIL EB/EC Wagon Pack for Train Simulator includes
Clean and weathered freight brown livery
Animated handbrake
Randomised decals with overrides
Randomised stanchions for empty versions
Empty and loaded versions with suitable physics
Rail and H-beam loads for the BORAIL EB
Concrete beam and fabricated bridge beam loads for the BORAIL EC
The pack includes a user manual with further details about the rolling stock and the customising of some of the features when using the wagons in scenarios. To allow the formation of correctly marshalled trains a British Railways dia. 1/506 vacuum piped 20T brake van is also bundled with this wagon pack.
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