Rapido 824016 OO Gauge SECR 5 Plank 10 Ton Open Wagon SECR Maunsell Dark Grey No.8663

In the final decade of the 19th century, there was a dramatic increase in freight traffic on the South Eastern Railway. In response to this, the SER hired various wagons to ensure services weren#t interrupted. This proved insufficient, so around 2000 additional wagons of various prototypes were ordered from independent wagon builders or constructed at their Ashford Works.

This also coincided with the South Eastern Railway's amalgamation with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. They became the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee in 1899. Thankfully, this lengthy title was rarely used, and it was better known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.

Demand for freight vehicles and traffic didn#t ease during this transition period, so some of the wagons intended to be for the SER never received this livery and were instead finished in the SECR livery from new.

To resolve the shortfall of rolling stock, around 1250 new open wagons were built. These were almost evenly split between two very similar diagrams; the 5 Plank Open Goods Wagon, which would later be designated as Diagram 1340 by the Southern Railway, and Diagram 1341 5 Plank Open Coal Wagon.

Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Co, Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co, Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. and the railways' own Ashford works completed construction of them between 1897 and 1901. There was also evidence of subcontracting from these outsourced builders, which makes it difficult to determine exactly how many were actually built by each manufacturer.

Both diagrams were 15ft 5in long with a 9 ft 4in wheelbase. One of the only noticeable differences between the two diagrams is the low-D shaped ends and Williams Pattern sheet rail that were fitted to the end of the D1341 Open Coal versions, and the round ends that were on the D1340 Open Goods versions.

Despite the 1341 diagram being designated as an Open Coal variant in its SR drawing, it was described as #Open Goods or Coal Wagon# by the SER. They were used as such throughout their existence.

There were numerous square-ended versions of both diagrams, and many of them were converted in 1912 by removing their rounded ends. It is believed that some examples may have been built with the square ends, but sadly, this clarity is lost to history.

The Southern Railway inherited the majority of these wagons upon the grouping of the railways in 1923, but they were gradually scrapped as the grouping era progressed. The last D1340 was withdrawn in 1942, and D1341 in 1948; their running numbers are unknown as they had likely been taken into departmental stock by this point.