GCR Dia. 9A/9B 6-Plank - No. 538910 LNER Grey (post-’36)

• GCR Dia. 9A/9B 6-Plank Open
  
• LNER Grey (post-’36) No. 538910
  
• RCH Axleboxes
  
• GCR Ribbed Buffers
  
• Independent 4-shoe brakes
  
• Disc wheels running in metal bearings
  
• High level of detail above and below the floor line
  
• High quality livery application
  
• NEM coupler pockets
  
• 1:76 scale, (OO gauge)
  
• UK designed

There were several other wagons which shared the same underframe design as the Dia. 17B Covered Vans.

Designed and built by the Great Central Railway, the Diagram 9A and 9B 6-plank open wagons were two excellent examples. Conceived in 1911, these were introduced to maximise the load capacity of the open wagon fleet by increasing the common 5-plank design to a 6-plank vehicle.

The original Dia. 9A concept had a single-sided brake with a right-hand lever and lifting links on the side of the brake blocks. However, the drawings were amended in 1918 to show brakes with independent levers on both sides. It had a load capacity of 10 tons. These drawings were altered again in 1923.

Over 2000 wagons were produced to this diagram, making it one of the most numerous wagons built by the GCR.

In 1919, the Ministry of Munitions ordered 250 10-ton 6-plank open wagons. These were built to a very close approximation of Dia. 9A. However, after the first 40 had been built and sent overseas, the order was cancelled. The GCR kept the remaining wagons for its own fleet.

The 12-ton load capacity variant of the design was designated Diagram 9B. Outwardly, they appeared the same as their 10-ton counterparts; however, the GA drawing shows them as being fitted with RCH split axle boxes.

Both variants were general-purpose open wagons, so would have been seen loaded with a multitude of goods and minerals. Unlike the Dia. 17B Covered Vans, there were no examples of 9A or 9B opens built for the CLC, so all of the remaining examples of these wagons were inherited by the LNER upon the grouping of the railways.

The LNER continued to produce hundreds of the Dia 9B wagons, and the number rose from the 229 that were identified in the 1922 census to a whopping 779 examples by 1928. Over 250 of each type were inherited by BR in 1948.