This LBSC van was constructed from the Branchlines kit, which I purchased at Railwells. I started it exactly a year later, prompted into pangs of guilt after returning from the next Railwells with another pair of kits. I felt it was time to make some inroads into the backlog.

I didn't have a strong desire to built this particular vehicle for any reason but I felt it looked characterful and would be a good warm-up exercise if I wished to tackle some of the pre-grouping stock in the Branchlines and Roxey Mouldings ranges.

The kit went together very nicely, with the exception of the underframe, where I really struggled to get the intended design to work. Ignoring the middle axle for the time being, the kit has a rigid axle at one end and a rocking compensation unit at the other. I'd built a GWR coach chassis based on this principle with no difficulties but the snag I hit here is that the rocking unit seemed - at least in my hands - to be too deeply etched, throwing out the ride height compared to the fixed end. There's no way to adjust it, so the only fix I could come up with was some major butchery of the underframe, creating a rebate and then mounting the rocking unit at a reduced level, and then having to fix it in rigidly since there was now no room for it to rock. This then created problems with the middle axle system which also needed to be altered. I'd like to think I made a stupid mistake, as otherwise the kit is very nice and I'd happily build another. On my 00 trackwork, not being compensated is not really an issue.

I've omitted the roof vents and hand brake gear for the time being, pending some more research, as to where and if they should be fitted. It may be correct as it stands, for a given prototype early in the grouping.

The model is now primed and will be receiving olive paint and yellow lining. I was (am) very tempted by LBSC colours, though.