HOP 21/HTO/HTV, By Accurascale

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

There has been a rather large 21 ton hopper shaped hole in our "Powering Britain" range of coal wagons across the history of the railways, and indeed in the British ready-to-run market in OO/4mm market in general.

So, we have pulled our fingers out and now present to you the most requested wagons we have been asked for over the last 24 months; the BR HTO and HTV hopper wagons in original and rebodied formats!

 

 

History

 

Check out our history blog by Project Manager Steve Purves as he details the history of these widespread wagons, from their LNER origins to their services throughout the BR system all the way into the 1980s, repurposing for departmental use and private owner industrial use by clicking here: https://www.accurascale.com/blogs/news/new-announcement-finally-the-hto-and-htv-21-tonners-in-oo-4mm

 

The Model

 

 

Our first release of this much requested wagon covers the Diagram 1/146 5-rib hoppers in their unfitted guise and the 1/147 and 1/149 rebuilt 2-rib bodies both with and without vacuum braking.

Our tooling suite means we have the ability to fit 4 different styles of axle box to match the prototype wagons, either plate or cast grease ‘boxes and SKF or Timken roller bearings.

 

In our first release of this much requested wagon, we will cover the Diagram 1/146 5-rib hoppers in their unfitted guise and the 1/147 and 1/149 rebuilt 2-rib bodies both with and without vacuum braking. Their tooling suite means we have the ability to fit 4 different styles of axle box to match the prototype wagons, either plate or cast grease ‘boxes and SKF or Timken roller bearings.

Each wagon features a wealth of separately applied detail, from handrails on the diecast chassis and hopper ends to the intricate brake gear and hopper operating mechanism underneath, all museum quality detail and prototypical accuracy modellers now come to expect from our wagons and which is now our standard specification.

 

When To Expect Them And New "Mega Bundle" Deal

 

With the first engineering prototype models in hand for assessment for some time now, feedback has been drawn up and sent back to the factory, with improved samples with full decoration due in the coming weeks. Delivery of the models to customers is currently estimated at Q3 2025.

The wagons are available in a variety of our now familiar triple packs, featuring both BR freight grey and bauxite liveries, with various running numbers and individual markings as modelled from real photographs of each wagon, allowing modellers to build a prototypical rake. Each pack is priced at £99.95 and we're operating their usual 10% off when you buy two packs or more, along with a new offer of 15% when you buy 5 or more packs direct from their website. That means each wagon just costs £27.47 when you factor in loyalty points rewards and postage and packaging being free!

Pre-order yours today via your local stockist, or no money down right here: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/hto-htv-hopper

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[The Stationmaster]

That fills more than a few dozen holes in the world of wagons - everything from early grey to 'House Coal Concentration' and Stone branded complete with Pool numbers and loads of variants  in between and after.

[Downendian]

Just terrific news- I’ll be adding a few sets of wagons to my Parkside builds. Plenty of 5-rib hoppers were vacuum braked too - I guess an option for future releases.

Neil

[Wickham Green too]

"cast grease ‘boxes" ...................... er - I think you mean oil ! ( the only greasy ones were the rollers )

[Accurascale Fran]

34 minutes ago, Downendian said:

Just terrific news- I’ll be adding a few sets of wagons to my Parkside builds. Plenty of 5-rib hoppers were vacuum braked too - I guess an option for future releases.

Neil

 

Hi @Downendian,

 

Having seen your post about kit building some recently I had my "well, there is the chap who finished their kits just in time for us to frustrate them with our announcement!" moment.

 

Sorry!

 

Fran 

Edited May 24 by Accurascale Fran

[PMP]

10 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi @Downendian,

 

Having seen your post about kit building some recently I had my "well, there is the chap who finished their kits just in time for us to frustrate them with our announcement!"

 

Sorry!

 

Fran 

#Metoo

[Downendian]

20 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi @Downendian,

 

Having seen your post about kit building some recently I had my "well, there is the chap who finished their kits just in time for us to frustrate them with our announcement!"

 

Sorry!

 

Fran 

Not a problem Fran - I still need more! I’ve enjoyed building them but they are not for the faint hearted, and can be made into a decent rake with a lot of effort. I’ve just ordered 2 sets of HTV rebodied 1/147s. I’ve still another rake to assemble as these were bread and butter rolling stock in the 1970s. Parkside kits are wonderful, but the price differential between your excellent wagons and a kit is not too big, and doesn’t factor in time and Anglo Saxon expletives when building them.
Neil

[33212]

wow - been waiting for HTV’s, but wow the price. Look good though but £500 for just 15 when I’d need 30 for a decent string like we used to see in Kent..thats a grand

[Accurascale Fran]

11 minutes ago, 33212 said:

wow - been waiting for HTV’s, but wow the price. Look good though but £500 for just 15 when I’d need 30 for a decent string like we used to see in Kent..thats a grand

 

Hi @33212,

 

5 packs qualifies for our new 15% off bundle on the website, so you would save £75 and the price would be in the £425 range. Added to that is the free shipping and the 3% cashback through loyalty points against future purchases so they are quite reasonable. We also do flexible payment terms over 6 months at no extra cost to mange it too.

 

As ever, we cannot make these for any cheaper than we are doing.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[Southernman46]

Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀👍

[Downendian]

48 minutes ago, 33212 said:

wow - been waiting for HTV’s, but wow the price. Look good though but £500 for just 15 when I’d need 30 for a decent string like we used to see in Kent..thats a grand

The alternative is that you build the Parkside kits PC77 and PC78 (around £15 plus p&p normally £4). Then there’s paint, glue, transfers (if you want to bespoke them which you’ll need to do in a large rake)  on top of that. Time is the critical factor for many, and my rakes have taken (a conservative estimate) at least a hundred man hours probably more. I’m still resolving running issues with a few now so I’m still not there yet. The alternative  Accurascale product is £27 a wagon, I think that’s a bargain. I’d also forgotten the loyalty discount which I may use to buy some more HTOs.

Neil

Edited May 24 by Downendian

[Zunnan]

These have probably been my biggest want in RTR for years, I can't wait for these to arrive!

 

I'm hoping that consideration for the LNER builds and rebodies with the LNER brake has been made for future variations.

[BMacdermott]

Hello Accurascale and everyone

 

Congratulations on the announcement of a clearly popular hopper!

 

For reasons I can't recall, we only the listed the vehicles as HTO/HTV under the Freight:1964-current category in The 00 Wishlist Poll, where they were Middle Polling in 2022 (the last Poll to run before we run again near Christmas this year).

 

I suspect they would have been a lot higher up the echelons had we listed them as Diag.1/146 etc in the Freight 1948-1963 category.

 

We wish Accurascale every success with the project!

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[MattR]

Very excited to see these, especially the rebuilds! These are just the thing to replace the old Dapol ones on my 1970s Rawtenstall coal train -- luckily (based on photos) the average rake was only 12-13 wagons, so I wouldn't need that many. Looks like I know what next year's birthday/Christmas money is going toward!

[Mark C]

2 hours ago, Downendian said:

Just terrific news- I’ll be adding a few sets of wagons to my Parkside builds. Plenty of 5-rib hoppers were vacuum braked too - I guess an option for future releases.

Neil

Me too!!  To be fair though, these have all been in this unfinished state for far too long...some more varieties for the future too perhaps...

 

Mark

 

[Chiltern Junction]

Have the 25t rebuilds been tooled as part of this release too? I don't see any in this first run, unless I missed it?

[Flying Pig]

Hoorah for digital extraction! All those other peculiar wagons are now explained - you were simply practising.

[apollo 079]

I have to say I'm soooooooo excited by this announcement! I've been badgering Fran about these wagons since the first time the lads were at Warley, I believe. Yet another model to cross off my "things I want to buy in rtr but nobody makes" list. Expect to see a rush on rust coloured paint when these models arrive!

 

It must be my day today as the dealer has just called me to say my new car has arrived. If only I could pick up the HTVs next week too.

 

Now then boys, how's about that tamper. I mentioned...

 

Best wishes

 

Kevin

Edited May 24 by apollo 079
Typo

[dj_crisp]

1 hour ago, Mark C said:

Me too!!  To be fair though, these have all been in this unfinished state for far too long...some more varieties for the future too perhaps...

 

Mark

 

 

These look very nice 🙂

[Ruston]

Excellent! Now where did I put that lump hammer? I've got a bunch of Parksides that need smashing into pieces. I'm not into replacing stuff just because a newer model comes along but those Parkside 21-ton hoppers need to be put out of my misery. They look perfectly acceptable but I've yet to build one that stays straight and true and keeps all 4 wheels on the rails. Every time I run the train there's at least one derails somewhere along the line.

[JShow]

18 minutes ago, Ruston said:

I'm not into replacing stuff just because a newer model comes along but those Parkside 21-ton hoppers need to be put out of my misery. 

Cutter's torch at Charlie Strong's?

[it's-er]

“In our first release of this much requested wagon, we will cover the Diagram 1/146 5-rib hoppers in their unfitted guise and the 1/147 and 1/149 rebuilt 2-rib bodies both with and without vacuum braking.”

 

I know this is excellent news, but Accurascale’s news release doesn’t tell us what years these started being made in real life.  Were the Diagram 1/146 5-rib hoppers in their unfitted guise first produced in 1948? or 1958?  Could someone give us a rough timeline, please?

 

John S

[97406]

6 hours ago, Downendian said:

Not a problem Fran - I still need more! I’ve enjoyed building them but they are not for the faint hearted, and can be made into a decent rake with a lot of effort. I’ve just ordered 2 sets of HTV rebodied 1/147s. I’ve still another rake to assemble as these were bread and butter rolling stock in the 1970s. Parkside kits are wonderful, but the price differential between your excellent wagons and a kit is not too big, and doesn’t factor in time and Anglo Saxon expletives when building them.
Neil

 

You've done some proper modelling though up until these ones come out and that's one of the best bits about the hobby. It's proper absorbing and fun and I feel just the same way about my Class 40s. ;)

[97406]

...and I'm definitely up for some of these wagons as they're bob on for my modelling period.

[The Johnster]

Great stuff Fran, I reckon a set of 3 unrebuilts will be needed for Cwmdimbath.  Nicce change from the Hornby model, which was pretty good when it came out.