We have produced the PBA / JIA TIGER China Clay wagon firstly in 00 Gauge with the tooling and design work entirely owned by Kernow Model Rail Centre, with subsequent batches in 2020 and 2021 licensed to Bachmann via the EFE Rail brand.
In May 2023 we produced versions in N Gauge also licensed to Bachmann via the EFE Rail brand.
Introduced in the early 1980s, the strikingly-liveried hoppers were a distinctive part of the Speedlink scene throughout the decade, later seeing use on export workings through the Channel Tunnel.
Historically the long-distance china clay traffic from the West Country to the Potteries was transported in vacuum-braked five-plank open wagons. These had been modified with roller bearings during the 1970s to improve reliability but they could only carry 13 tons and needed to be sheeted to protect the highly sensitive load from the elements. Consequently when BR decided to phase out these vehicles in the early 1980s, English China Clays (ECC) and wagon leasing company Tiger Rail developed a new purpose-built air-braked covered hopper design as a replacement.
Known as ‘Clay Tigers’, the 35 new wagons were built by Fauvet Girel in France in 1982 and could carry 57.5 tonnes. Their tare of 22.5 tonnes resulted in a gross laden weight of just 80 tonnes, enabling them to run on almost all of the lightly laid branch lines in Cornwall and Devon. Numbered TRL11600-34 and coded PBA on TOPS, they measured 17,200mm over headstocks and ran on Y25CS2 bogies centred at 13,400mm, allowing them to negotiate a 71 metre curve. The wagons had a large roof aperture, this being covered by a one-piece bi-directional waterproof roof that was operated by a control wheel from one end of the vehicle. Loading at the clay drying plants was by front loading shovels. The steep-sided hoppers discharged through four bottom-doors that were hinged parallel to the track and the hoppers were fitted with a dead-fall system with snap-over arch-breaker arms similar to those found on merry-go-round coal hoppers. This enabled smooth unloading not only of lump clay but also the stickier ball clay produced at ECC’s works in Devon and Dorset.
The ‘Clay Tigers’ entered service in August 1982, taking over the ‘Clayliner’ working from Cornwall and running as a 10 or 11-wagon block train to a new rail-served terminal that ECC had opened at Cliffe Vale, situated half a mile to the north of Stoke-on-Trent station. It soon became evident there was some slack within the fleet so by the spring of 1983, the ‘Clay Tigers’ had also begun to appear in Speedlink services running between Cornwall and Scotland. Their primary Scottish destination was the PD Stirling distribution depot at Mossend but by the late 1980s, they were also used to supply the Tullis Russell paper mill at Markinch, Fife.
In the early 1990s the ‘Clay Tiger’ fleet were modified for working to the continent and re-coded JIA. This including fitting train-ferry tie-down points along the solebars, strengthening of the solebars and a reduction in pipework associated with the braking equipment, these variations all being catered for in the model tooling. The fleet were repainted into the blue livery at the same time as these modifications were made. This allowed them to work through to the continent, serving ECC customers in Switzerland and Italy via the Dover-Dunkerque train ferry and then the Channel Tunnel.
China clay loading points for these wagons in the West Country included the ECC dries at Burngullow, Goonbarrow Junction, Kernick, Marsh Mills, Parkandillack, Pontsmill and Treviscoe. In addition, one wagon occasionally carried china clay from the Goonvean & Rostowrack Clay Company sidings at both Bugle and Drinnick Mill, while ball clay was conveyed from the ECC works at Furzebrook in Dorset and Heathfield in Devon.
Although their workings to Scotland ceased with the demise of the Speedlink wagonload network in July 1991, the ‘Clay Tigers’ continued to supply Cliffe Vale. This service was reclassified as part of Railfreight Distribution’s Contract Service network. Tiger Rail’s bankruptcy in 1992 had little effect other than to see ownership of most of the fleet pass to Tiphook Rail.
The ‘Clay Tigers’ continued to serve Cliffe Vale but were eventually withdrawn in 2004 when this working was fully taken over by the new fleet of Imerys-branded JIA NACCO 90 tonne GLW covered hoppers. In later years they were used for short-notice flows, with just four remaining at Burngullow in 2010. These were cut-up shortly after our site visit and none have been preserved.
The Models
N Gauge
We have produced weathered and pristine models licensed to Bachmann via the EFE Rail brand.
E87520 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 061 ECC Blue
E87521 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 065 ECC Blue SOLD OUT
E87524 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 069 ECC Blue SOLD OUT
E87525 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 059 ECC Blue SOLD OUT
E87522 WSL EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 068 ECC Blue [W] SOLD OUT
E87523 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 072 ECC Blue [W]
E87526 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 073 ECC Blue [W]
E87527 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 33 70 9382 075 ECC Blue [W]
E87528 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11601 ECC International White
E87529 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11603 ECC International White
E87532 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11627 ECC International White
E87533 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11612 ECC International White
E87530 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11606 ECC International White(W)
E87531 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11610 ECC International White [W]
E87534 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11616 ECC International White [W]
E87535 EFE Rail PBA Tiger TRL 11620 ECC International White [W]
00 Gauge
We produced weathered and pristine models as exclusive models as shown below. New versions were also licensed to Bachmann via the EFE Rail brand. Now all SOLD OUT.
SB002A PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002B PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002C PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002D PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002E PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002F PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002G PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002H PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002I JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002J JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002K JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002L JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Pristine).
SB002M JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002N JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002O JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
SB002P JIA TIGER China Clay Wagon (Weathered).
In August 2020 and August 2021 we announced a further batches of white Clay Tigers. These were licensed to Bachmann via the EFE Rail brand and are now also SOLD OUT
E87010 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11601 (Pristine)
E87011 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11603 (Pristine
E87012 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11606 (Pristine)
E87013 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11610 (Pristine)
E87014 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11627 (Weathered)
E87015 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11612 (Weathered)
E87016 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11616 (Weathered)
E87017 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11620 (Weathered)
E87029 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11630 (Pristine)
E87030 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11625 (Pristine)
E87031 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11624 (Weathered)
E87032 EFE Rail PBA TIGER China Clay Wagon number TRL 11623 (Weathered)
