Grain, Wheat, Corn and Flour

I did once see a CGO Grain hopper , though traffic to the ABM malt kiln in Louth used normally to move in 12T vans until closure in 1980. There is an etched kit which I bought at a show a couple of years ago but haven't dared to attempt yet . I can't remember who did it either but he was at said show and I think it was the 2nd or 3rd kit in his range. The Wrenn (ex Hornby Dublo) hopper is too short and some rather demanding work wold be required to cut it into sections and splice in additional length

The ex LNER hoppers look like a van externally - I think they were out of mainline traffic by about 1970.

I think the ex Trix moulds for the BRT "whisky blues" are now with Bachmann who have re-run them. As the name suggests these were very much for grain flows to the Scottish distilleries, and I think they had gone by about 1980

In the 70s and 80s grain traffic from E.Anglia to the ports in the days of EEC grain mountains and intervention store was largely in airbreaked Grainflow wagons - Lima did the PAA 4 wheel hopper - a slightly larger version of the whisky blues , though Hornby have not reissued it. I have 2 from an old layout : the pedistal suspension is too long and reducining it to correct ride heighht is covered in Ian Rice's Morill Handbook 1 Detailing RTR Wagons - an excellent book if you can find a copy.

There were also the Polybulks - big bogie hoppers , I think built in France whose TOPS code eludes me .Operated by Grainflow (in green ) sand someone else - Cerestar? in white /blue stripes livery. After the traffic was lost in the early 90s? I believe they went to France , though a few re-appeared in Britain a couple of years back on an experimental grain traffic flow. I have a feeling Jouef made an HO model , which I seem to recall some modern image modellers using in the absence of another model. Memory also suggests someone has since done this as a 4mm model

I've not seen the Bachmann 12T vans in the flesh but photos look good and others have been suitably impressed. Some modellers believe a slightly more refined result can be achieved by building a Parkside kit - these are some of their newer kits as they retooled these items a couple of years back - but there's very little in it , and if you need vans in quantity , Bachmann is certainly the quicker route

The Hornby BR vanwide is way too short and should be ignored. However their ex SR/GW vans are fine. Unfortunately pre nationalisation vans did not survive the introduction of TOPS in 1972-4: this generated operating efficiencies that reduced the wagon fleet by 60% and the older vehicles were wiped out

MOGOs and fruit vans are slightly different animals and unlike ordinary 12T vans , I wouldn't have expected them to be used in these traffics