Three of our Great Northern gunpowder vans.
Railways always made more money from goods rather than passengers, and the GNR was no exception. In the days before lorries and motorways, everything travelled by rail, and if a customer wanted to shift a sizeable load from A to B then they'd be needing more than one wagon. And so, decades before anyone thought of the term 'block freight', you'd often see rakes of identical wagons coupled together. In mixed goods trains any wagons carrying hazardous goods, like our gunpowder vans, would normally be marshalled as close to the centre of the train as possible. The loco crew and the guard much preferred it that way. Move a consignment of explosives or military munitions on your layout with our GN Rake.

More information on the GNR can be found on the Great Northern Railway Society's website at www.gnrs.150m.com