THE Great Western Railway’s railcars have long been sought after by modellers and in 2017 Dapol released the first ready-torun Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon (GRCW) streamlined version. It joined the long-standing Hornby (ex-Lima) model of the later GWR built vehicles, which had more angular bodywork.
January saw the arrival of a second batch of streamlined railcars from Dapol which included brand new tooling for 1936 built No. 17, which was a dedicated parcels car. This vehicle was unique and Dapol has sought to replicate it in ‘OO’ gauge in both GWR and BR period colour schemes.
Our review sample models the parcels railcar in BR crimson as W17W. It remained in service in this livery until 1959 when it was withdrawn.
THE MODEL
Outwardly Dapol has followed the high standard of its previous moulding for the passenger railcars with this new addition. The body styling of the Gloucester built railcars was streamlined and smooth and that is reflected in the model. There are few separate details on the vehicle, correctly, but the eagle-eyed will spot handrails at the doors, a separately fitted roof conduit and flush glazing. What isn’t quite so obvious is that the four stub buffers are all separate pa…
