Three Peaks Models have announced their first wagon kit, a Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Diagram 1 "Low Goods" wagon, a 16ft wooden framed single plank wagon.
These wagons were heavily used throughout the life of the L&Y, with 7,675 wagons of this design in use at the end of 1921. This model is appropriate for the L&Y from around 1860, throughout the LMS era, to the last few BR survivors around 1960. The wagons typically carried sheeted general merchandise loads, but were also used for carrying containerised traffic, and placed in departmental use as crane runners.
The kits come with two underframe variations, covering different eras of construction. The "brakes same end" version places the handbrakes on the same end of the wagon, the L&Y's initial response to a requirement for two hand brake levers per wagon. The "brakes right hand end" is a post-1903 arrangement, meeting the new requirement that handbrake levers were always on the right hand side when facing the wagon.
The model is easy to construct, only requiring the body to be slotted into the chassis, plus additional fittings for couplings as desired (optional NEM pockets and couplers included). Wheels and transfers are not included. The kit comes with a four page set of instructions, historical guidance, and livery suggestions, which can also be downloaded freely from the Three Peaks website.
Three Peaks intention is to continue with an expanded range of L&Y wagons in future, building on the work that has gone into this model and they would welcome input from the modelling community on the types of wagons that would be of greatest interest.
The kit is available in N/2mm at £8 and can be purchased through the Three Peaks website website here