Photo:
Tim Cook - Fruit van in Buffer Depot - March 2002

Photo:
Robert Frise - Fruit van shortly after arrival beyond the Shoc van

This standard 12 ton goods van was designed to carry fruit and vegetables. Speed was essential for carrying fresh produce to market and many freight trains ran overnight. Fruit and vegetables went to London´s Smithfield market and flowers to Covent Garden. Its small size enabled it to fit in the goods sheds and sidings where fresh produce was handled.

Vents and scoops drew air into the moving wagon, which along with insulation helped keep the contents cool. The interior contains folding shelves, which allowed air to circulate around the crates, baskets, sacks or barrels. This was common practice until refrigerated vans became available.

This wagon was built in Darlington in 1957 to a design that had hardly changed in a hundred years. It is similar to diagram 213 box vans, the main difference being the air scoops. Banana vans were another version, but these also had steam heating to ripen the fruit.

The van was one of a hundred built to this lot, and was in the last lot of fruit vans built. Our vehicle had a general repair in 1963, is four-wheeled, has continuous automatic vacuum brake, with instanter couplings one end and screw couplings the other. The ´XP´ on the side of the wagon shows it could be used in express trains.

It arrived at Quainton in March 1994 from BR Cambridge and has now been painted in Bauxite livery.