These steel bodied hopper wagons were first developed in the 1930s, providing an easy solution to bulk grain transport within a weatherproof, self-clearing hopper. The British Railways design incorporated features from the most recent builds from the big 4 companies. A large fleet was constructed in the 1950s, with a substantial number still in service into the 1970s. While the majority of the BR grain wagons were painted grey when new to identify them as not having vacuum train brakes a number of bauxite painted wagons appeared later and these can add variety to model goods trains. When BR reconsidered its' goods wagon painting scheme in the 1960s bauxite brown became the standard colour for all goods wagons so ;wagons being overhauled and repainted changed to the new colour. At the same time the lettering of wagons was tidied up, collecting the lettering for wagon type, load capacity, tare weight and wagon number together in a defined box painted at the bottom left corner of the wagon body. Many were also upgraded with roller bearing axleboxes and more modern Oleo pneumatic buffers at the same time.