A VOLATILE ISSUE
Rapido is to produce its first-ever tank wagon in ‘OO’ gauge, with the announcement of a series of early 20th-century tankers initially used to transport dangerous ammonium nitrate during the First World War.
The wagons are based on 100 10-ton prototypes ordered by the Ministry of Munitions in 1916, to bring the chemical to the National Shell Fillings Factory (NSFF) at Chilwell near Nottingham so it could be combined with TNT to create explosive shells. Despite looking similar to typical liquid-carrying tankers, the wagons carried their cargo in powder form. After the end of the war, the nearly new wagons were converted to hold fluids and sold into private hands. The War Department also retained some for employment on the Longmoor Military Railway. Many survived through to the 1960s, most notably with Chipman Chemicals’ weedkilling trains which operated throughout Britain.