Prototype
This is an accurate model of a standard British Railways van design for carrying chilled meat. Built in 1953-4 to diagram 1/251, these vans were closely related to the contemporary ventilated van design, but with an internal insulating layer instead of vents. This layer also reduced the carrying capacity from 12 to 10 tons. Originally painted white with black underframe, the white was later (after 1964) replaced by ice blue. Subsequent containerisation of rail-borne meat traffic resulted in some of these vans later being used for other traffic, such as beer, for which some vans were re-classified as ALE. Most of these vans survived into the 1970s.
Model Details
Scale: 4mm:1ft (1:76)
Finish: Unweathered
Source: Built from Parkside Dundas kit, with added weight (Coopercraft), turned steel buffer heads (Gibson) and functional instanter couplings. Finished in original white livery and using Fox Transfers. The model is shown with S4 wheels.