Rapido 950009 OO Gauge LNWR D84 4 Plank Open Wagon BR Departmental Grey No.021439

In 1904 the London & North Western Railway sought to increase the payload of its general merchandise open wagons and they turned to their new wagon superintendent; H.D Earl. His proposed new design increased the standard length of general merchandise open wagons to 18ft.

Introduced as a replacement for the shorter Diagram 9 Open Wagons, the new wagons would retain the same side-doored 4-plank design of their predecessor. With the additional 2 feet of internal length, the new Diagram 84s proved successful.

Following the success of the early 1904 versions, H.D. Earl set about updating the LNWRs# ageing Loco Coal fleet alongside the D84s. Matching the proven 18' long and 7' 10" wide design, a new loco coal version was produced which featured additional bottom doors.

The first batch of these new wagons to roll off the factory floor were given round ends; however, this was changed to the conventional squared-off 4-plank design similar to the D84s when they went into full-scale production. This refined design was designated as Diagram 90.

Despite being larger than the wagons they replaced, the D84s retained the same carry limit of 10 tons. Though they couldn#t carry more weight they could carry larger quantities of lighter produce, making them more flexible vehicles. The D90#s 10-ton carry limit was greater than the D53 8-ton Loco Coal wagons they superseded, which is ideal when you want to move or store wagons full of coal easily.

For the first few years, production of the smaller D9 wagons continued in unison with the new D84 and D90 examples. However, in 1907 construction of the D9s ceased. This coincided with the D84 design being finalised. The final versions only diverged slightly from the various 1904-1905 prototypes.

It is believed that approximately 2500 D90 Loco Coal Wagons were built, and just over 15000 D84s were passed to the LMS upon the grouping of the railways in 1923.

As World War 2 was drawing to an end, the British Government put pressure on the Big-4 companies to provide the Belgian Railways with rolling stock. The LMS agreed and provided 2000 D84s, these were then laden with coal and shipped to Zeebrugge. It isn#t clear how many of these our European neighbours deemed satisfactory and subsequently purchased, but several are noted as having spent the rest of their days on the European mainland.

Both prototypes survived through to the nationalisation of the railways, several examples were also inherited by Royal Naval Armament Depots and the Port of London Authority for private use, and a handful even made it into preservation.