GWR 5 Plank Wagon

This wagon, number W108712 (alternate number 071204) was built to diagram O22 and is a GWR 12ton 5 plank Open-A wagon, which originally would have had a sheet support for a canvas cover. In total 2186 wagons were built to this diagram, the Open-A type only have a manual lever brake, whereas the Open-B type having both lever and vacuum brakes. Today only two of these 12t Open-A types have survived into preservation so it’s a valuable piece of history to restore.
A similar but 10ton Open-A has been preserved on the Severn Valley Railway, which is owned by the The GWR 813 Preservation Fund. This gives an idea as to what our wagon could one day look like.