Two technologies that were crucial in shaping the First World War were railways and artillery. Railways provided the enormous logistical capacity needed to support huge armies in the field for years on end, including transportation of millions of artillery shells. To do so, the shells were initially transferred from standard gauge railways far behind the lines onto narrow gauge lines, which then transported them in bulk to the lines and stores, or "dumps" as they were often known. From here, smaller narrow gauge locomotives (such as bow-framed Simplexes) shunted and manoeuvred the shells to where they were needed on even smaller wagons.

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The Oxford Circus (named after the junction they were photographed at) were stumbled on by mistake whilst browsing the Imperial War Museums archives. Being too numerous and similar in design to being cobbled together and  just big enough to be locomotive hauled (as shown by couplings in one of the two images), our wagon has been painstakingly scaled from the two existing images to recreate it in perfect 16mm scale. Judging by their end boards, it can be presumed that they were designed to primarily convey larger shells such as the 15 and 18 inch varieties.

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Comprised of laser cut ply components, this highly detailed kit is complete with couplings, pre-cut styrene strapping, Cambrian rivets, Slaters wheels and brass top-hat bearings. We believe it to be the smallest wagon on the market though don't be put off by this fact as we have successfully ran it behind and in front of a Roundhouse Darjeeling Garratt! 15 inch Howitzer shells are available separately.