August 18, 2026 Graham Muspratt

KMRC Wagon YCV Turbot Bogie Ballast Wagon - OO Gauge

We produced the YCV Turbot Bogie Ballast Wagon in OO Gauge

Prototype History
BR found itself with a large fleet of young but under-used Bogie Bolster E wagons in the 1970s, 1200 of the type having been built in 1961 and 1962 but proving too short to be useful for steel traffic. As the engineers fleet at the time was varied and elderly, it was decided to rebuild some of these Bogie Bolsters as ballast wagons.

A low-sided body was constructed, the sides being fabricated with three drop-side doors. The fixed ends had an angled plate fitted on top to prevent loads from spilling on to the draw-gear. Livery was civil engineers grey, with the top third of the sides in yellow. The type was coded YCV and titled Turbot, continuing the tradition of naming engineers wagons after fish.

The number series allocated for these wagons was from DB978000 and very nearly 1000 were eventually converted, using the majority of the source wagon fleet. Wagons up to DB978746 were converted at Shildon. When this closed in 1984, the work was transferred to Swindon, who built up to DB978921 over the next two years. There was then a gap until the programme was recommenced at Doncaster works (later RFS). Their first wagon was DB978922 in February 1988, and the last (DB978991) in June.

Although designated as ballast wagons, the type was able to carry other loads due to the fitting of doors. In fact the bodies were susceptible to damage from grab-loaders used on ballast circuits and later types (such as the Clam) were to a more sturdy design.

Turbots could be seen either singly or in rakes in most parts of the country throughout the 1980s. By the 1990s, the vehicle's age and the availability of more modern replacements triggered the start of withdrawals. Several Turbots were repainted in EWS maroon in connection with a job to transport sea defence boulders in Somerset.

Their vacuum brakes and relatively fragile drop-side doors saw the type displaced by more modern designs and conversions with most of the Turbots withdrawn in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By late 2005 the national rail fleet was down to just 10 examples.

The Models
Two versions of Turbot have been produced, the as-built design in Engineers Dutch livery and the later EWS livery with additional handrails fitted (there are no holes visible on versions which do not have the handrails fitted!).
In the Autumn 2026 Bachman British Railway Announcements it was revealed that we have produced four new versions, with new running numbers for their EFE Rail brand as shown below.

We initially produced three production runs of these models, all with unique running numbers, and all have now sold out: