Reviews
NSWGR S Four-wheeled Open Wagon kit in O scale (1:43.5) by ModelOKits, PO Box 379, Ermington 1700. Website: www. modelokits.com. Email: sales@ modelokits.com. Price: $85.00.
Prototype
S trucks were the most common four-wheeled wagon on the NSWGR with their numbers reaching something over 10,000 in the 1930s. These ‘standard’ 18' long wagons began appearing in 1900 with the full steel-bodied S truck gradually becoming ubiquitous on the NSWGR system. The early steel-bodied wagons were produced in batches in the early part of the 20th century and there was then a lull in new construction until the 1940s when a major ‘renewal’ program was commenced that saw the entire existing fleet of steel-bodied S trucks replaced with a new design of 18' four-wheeled open wagon, still coded ‘S’ and retaining the running numbers of the earlier version.
The post war ‘composite’ S truck would be the version most familiar to modellers. This consisted of a steel underframe, steel body panels and coping with timber framing, fabricated W irons and wooden side doors with metal hinges and fittings. They began to appear in 1945 and on through the
