Britain’s railways were developed primarily to move freight and the early railway companies employed vans of many different designs to transport goods and merchandise that required covered transport. Each railway company had its own designs, and a defining feature of the Southern Railway’s standard vans was the elliptical roof. The vans were clad with planks of an even width, although later builds employed two widths of plank in a 2+2 formation, and later still plywood cladding was also used. The ventilators fitted at either end of the van allowed fresh air to circulate inside keeping perishable items cool whilst in transport.

This Branchline models depicts one of the many ventilated vans built with even cladding, replicated with fine engraving whilst precision moulding captures the external bracing of the van body and the door hinges and locking detail, even down to individual rivets. The chassis employs metal wheelsets of the 3-hole disc variety, whilst the brakes, brake handles and associated gear is all included. Representing a van fitted with vacuum brakes, the brake cylinder is mounted underneath the wagon and brake pipes are fitted to each bufferbeam alongside metal buffer heads cosmetic coupling hooks.

MODEL FEATURES:

• Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
• Era 3
• Pristine Express Dairy Company Blue livery
• Running No. N48359
• NEM Coupling Pockets
• Length 86mm (over couplings)