Story of the WRCC Wagon Range

Produced by the Wrenn Railways Collectors Club

The WRCC wagon range was started by the Wrenn Railways Collectors Club in 1999. The 1st wagon issued was the J.Bly of Barnsley coal wagon.

The idea was started to both help raise funds for the Club and to give members the opportunity to add new items to either their layouts or their collections. It was very much done as an initial trial but has proved very popular and wagons have been commissioned and released on an ongoing basis.

Originally to save cost, the wagons supplied were simply a body (with a chassis screw) in a Dapol box. This was to allow buyers to provide their own chassis, be it Dapol, Hornby Dublo or Wrenn to suit their own requirements. To authenticate the limited nature of each issue and to act as provenance, a pair of limited edition labels are supplied with each wagon. These were designed either to remain as is, within the body of the box, or used to be applied to each end of the box. Some collectors transfer the wagon, suitably re-homed onto a spare Wrenn chassis, to a spare Wrenn Railways box. The Limited Label is also designed to cater for this requirement as it is the right size to apply and cover over the existing box stamp. The limited edition certificate is thus in the form of a peelable label stating the name of the wagon, the WRCC number and the limited edition number e.g. 45/100*.

The first 8 wagons issued by the Wrenn Railways Collectors Club used the Wrenn numbering system but since issue 9, they are all numbered as WRCC9 etc. For order form purposes the 1st 8 wagons have been allocated WRCC 1-8 numbers for simplification. Should readers wish to find the original number allocated to any particular model then they only have to click on the "Our Range" button from the "Wagons" drop down menu bar.

The rolling stock concerned is a series of Wagons and Vans produced for the Wrenn Railways Collectors Club from moulds retained by Dapol Ltd. All of the bodies for the wagons come from the original Hornby Dublo Moulds, which were then taken over by G & R Wrenn of Basildon, some of them having been refaced and therefore improved by Dapol Ltd. All the wagons are produced in limited runs (normally of 100). The bodies are all now mounted on a Dapol chassis with metal wheels and packaged in a Dapol box.

Most of the earlier wagons such as the J Bly Coal Wagon, the Geest Banana Vans and the Salt Vans simply used existing Wrenn Printing Plates and were printed on a different liveried body. For example: G & R Wrenn of Basildon produced a J Bly Coal Wagon in dark green livery whereas the WRCC version was produced in black.

Some of the wagons/vans have used new printing plates, such as the Standard Fireworks Van produced in the late 1960's by G & R Wrenn of Basildon (the Wrenn original used transfers). Others, such as the Brocks Fireworks Van, the Camerons Brewery Van and the Rebellion Beer Company Van are completely new issues and were never sold by Wrenn.

More recently, some issues have included a small number of commissions in both pristine and weathered condition.

These wagons and vans are designed to make a colourful addition to either your layout or your collection and are therefore attractively priced. All are, or will be, included in the Dapol 00 Section of the Ramsay Model Trains Guide.

Barry Fentiman
Wrenn Railways Collectors Club

*In a few instances, a small overrun has been produced by Dapol and these have been sold as non-limiteds without a label.

You can obtain the wagon order form in PDF format here. (Adobe Reader required ).