The BL 18-inch railway howitzer (formally Ordnance BL 18-inch Mk I howitzer on truck, railway) was a British railway gun developed during World War I. Part of the progression of ever-larger howitzers on the Western Front, it did not enter service until 1920.

Five guns and two complete sets of equipment on railway wagons were produced. After World War I there was no use for such large but relatively short-ranged weapons and they were placed in storage. In World War II the two wagons were used to mount 13.5-inch guns, which were capable of engaging targets on the German-occupied Channel coast of France. In late 1940 one 18-inch howitzer was mounted on the railway mounting nicknamed "Boche Buster" which had been used in World War I to carry a 14-inch gun. It was deployed at Bishopsbourne in Kent on the Elham to Canterbury Line as a coast defense gun as a precaution against possible German invasion. The gun's range was insufficient for cross-Channel firing and hence it was never fired in action.

Pictured here is a 1:76 scale replica of a British BL 18-inch railway howitzer that was nicknamed "Gladiator". Note: Does not come with the section of track shown in the photo. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 16-inches

Release Date: April 2019

Historical Account: "One Came Home" - Of all the guns produced, a single gun barrel, number one, survives. This gun was tested at MoD Shoeburyness in 1920 before being moved away from the site for twenty years, probably to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. In 1940, it returned to Shoeburyness to be used in testing. Post war it continued to be used in testing until 1959. The gun's final firings were a series of tests where it fired 1000 pound bombs with a much reduced charge. In 2008, the weapon was put on display at the Royal Artillery headquarters at Larkhill. In March 2013, it was loaned to the Spoorwegmuseum, the Dutch national rail museum. In September 2013, it was moved to the Royal Armouries artillery museum at Fort Nelson, Hampshire. It is mounted on a proofing carriage, a gun carriage with very limited elevation and traverse intended for test firing.