Another Thrall product was the MDA, these were effectively a lower sided version of the MBA.  These wagons were never common in East Anglia, but with the re-opening of Whitemoor  Yard  it did bring some into the area. I saw a rake of four of these go through Ely in the  early 2000’s and that was it, I had to model them.

Again this was just before Dapol and Bachmann produced their models, so I looked towards kit building. At an Exhibition I was attending the new owner of Mendip Models had his trade stand, I purchased the four wagons I needed.

The kits were OK, and other than a few air bubbles that needed to be filled, assembly soon started. They went together reasonably well and were soon painted and Fox transfers were applied. I decided to run them full and inserts were made and virgin ballast added.

One little note, EWS later cut down some MBA’s to the same height as the MDA’s, however they were allocated the code MOA.