China Clay or Kaolin has a wide variety of uses including the production of Porcelain and in certain cosmetics where it is used as whitener and pigment. The biggest use for China Clay however, is for making paper where the China Clay imparts a fine surface finish.

The main areas where China Clay is mined are China, Malaysia, and Cornwall and it is generally extracted from the ground by ring high pressure water jets to form slurry. In the UK, this slurry is collected and commonly transported using the ICA China Clay slurry wagon, commonly known as Silver Bullets due to their distinctive shape and colour.

Silver Bullets are a common sight leaving the South West of England up to the large paper mills in Scotland. Each wagon has a maximum capacity of around 90 tonnes and they commonly travel in rakes of more than 10 wagons.

NACCO is the main operator of Silver Bullets and liveries include NACCO with English China Clay (ECC) branding and NACCO unbranded.

MODEL DETAILS

The Dapol model of the ICA Silver Bullet features:

• NEM pockets
• Profiled wheels
• Superbly printed livery and details
• Highly detailed body and chassis moulding
• Many added extra details with etched hand rails and ladders