Revolution Trains N Gauge JTA/PTA/JUA tippler and JSA coil carrier livery samples shown

Revolution Trains have received livery samples for their N Gauge JTA/PTA/JUA tippler wagons and JSA steel coil carrier wagons, with the samples being on display at the 2025 International N Gauge show.

The JTA tippler wagons were built by Redpath Dorman Long in the early 1970s to transport iron ore for British Steel, and saw service across north east England and south Wales. They were built as inners and outers, and usually marshalled in sets of ten with a pair of outers and eight inners.

They were designed to be ‘tippled’ – that is, the whole wagon spun about its axis for unloading and to enable this without uncoupling each wagon carried a rotating coupler at one end. This end was painted orange.

The chunky box bodies have a very slight draft to optimise unloading, and the outer wagons feature standard drawgear at one end with buffers and distinctive strengthening fillets behind the buffer beam. They also feature an access ladder on one side only.

With declining need for the wagons, in the 1990s many were repurposed for aggregate work. The rotating coupler was fixed and the wagons were used by Foster Yeoman and ARC on stone traffic from the Mendip quarries. In time they also received new TOPS codes – JTA for outers, JUA for inners.

In the 2000s the wagons drifted in and out of store and some were acquired by VTG and given a slightly darker livery.

Revolution Trains have identified some changes to be made to the colours and livery application before the models enter production.

JSA Steel Coil Carriers

By the 1990s British Steel also had a need for covered wagons to carry ‘bright’ steel and some of the redundant PTA box wagons were repurposed for this, with the removal of the box body and the addition of a three part telescoping cover.

All versions of these wagons are available to pre-order now via the Revolution Trains website

Our thanks to Revolution Trains for allowing N Gauge News to photograph the samples on show at The International N Gauge Show.