Freight on the modern railway hurtles along the tracks in giant high-tech high-capacity air-braked wagons, carrying tons of goods or raw materials from producer to consumer with maximum speed and efficiency. But back in the steam age, things were very different. The Victorian and Edwardian railways carried all kinds of stuff to and from every corner of the UK, but by far the biggest and most profitable material to ride the rails was coal. At its peak just before the Great War the UK mining industry produced nearly 300 million tons of coal per year, and the vast majority of this would have been shipped out of the collieries by rail. Every pit would have had its fleet of four-wheeled wooden-bodied wagons painted up in their own distinctive livery, and these would have been a familiar sight to the rail travellers of the time. Larger customers such as factories and coal merchants would have had wagons of their own, with the company name painted large on the side. And this endless variety of colourful wagons would all have been coupled up to each other in the goods trains of the day, clanking along every main route and branch line to deliver the fuel that Britain's homes and factories depended on. Recreate a touch of this bygone era on your layout with our Coal Set.

Please note these wagons are boxed individually, and loads are not included.