Hornby Vent Van R205

[rogirbu]

I have - from many years ago - a Hornby R205 ventilated van. I  have been searching for something that looks like a prototype but found nothing so far. It is marked as "Return to Marazion" which suggests a fish van in the GWR family 

Can any web members help please?

 

[Miss Prism]

It is marked as "Return to Marazion" which suggests a fish van in the GWR family

 

It should be marked "This is fictional rubbish. Return to the trash."

[giz]

It's supposed to be one of the six BR built Vanwides that had additional ventilators in the doors, possibly for fruit traffic.

 

Edit: Paul Bartlett says there were six, not the three I guessed.

 

Photos here:

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brvanwide

Edited December 3, 2018 by giz

[rogirbu]

It's supposed to be one of the six BR built Vanwides that had additional ventilators in the doors, possibly for fruit traffic.

 

Edit: Paul Bartlett says there were six, not the three I guessed.

 

Photos here:

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brvanwide

Thanks Giz - isn't always the one place you didn't look! I had not searched that particular set of photos, although I see he had a photo of B784288, and Hornby used B784287!

Yes, it is a fairly crude model. 

Strange that Hornby would choose to model such a rare original.

['CHARD]

Every day is a school day!  Six of the real thing!  I mean, SIX!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...Strange that Hornby would choose to model such a rare original.

Long term endemic problem in RTR subject choices.

 

Although for those lamenting the lack of operating features in modern productions I can inform anyone interested that you can very satisfactorily 'blow the bloody doors off' by an air pistol pellet to one of the corrugated ends. This is a 'one time only' feature however. (Accidental discovery, the target was the 'armoured' Wrenn N2 deployed on an artillery train)

 

The rectangle of steel sheet from this item was recycled into an attempt at the all steel shock absorbing open wagon that BR constructed on the pattern of the LNER high steel, in which it provided weight and structural stability in an otherwise all plastic contruction. (My young teenage self naively supposing that the body was all steel, floor included, on the basis of looking inside a 16 tonner from Welwyn Garden City footbridge.)

[The Johnster]

Which illustrates the value of observing the prototype...

 

The biggest problem with Triang, Triang Hornby, and Hornby models of this vintage is the height of the buffers about the rails, which is far too high.  The body, with the rest being given the opportunity of an exciting new career in landfill, may possibly be worth recycling and working up; I don't know much about this particular prototype.  I have an idea that the intended traffic was broccili, which is grown in that part of Cornwall and in the Channel Islands and reached the market a week or so earlier than the main crop due to the slightly warmer climate and milder winters of those places, thus commanding premium prices.  'Return to Weymouth Harbour' for the Channel Islands traffic of course.  

 

Only 6 suggests that it was found that the traffic could be conveyed in ordinary ventilated vanwides, these being needed to unload with fork lifts.  Vanwides, of which this is a variant, were a BR development and little to do with the GW.

[giz]

I believe it is a scale foot or so too short as it was made to fit the standard Triang underframe. It is not related to the later Hornby model of the Vanwide (R242) other than being a model of the same basic type, which was also distorted (too high amongst other things) but didn't have the working doors.

[D9020 Nimbus]

Choosing rare prototypes is nothing new (and it's still going on—P2, DP2, Falcon, GT3...) and Triang had form as far as wagons are concerned—the original vent van in their range was based on an H&BR prototype. Perhaps they may have modelled this van without realising just how rare it was.

[rogirbu]

Choosing rare prototypes is nothing new (and it's still going on—P2, DP2, Falcon, GT3...) and Triang had form as far as wagons are concerned—the original vent van in their range was based on an H&BR prototype. Perhaps they may have modelled this van without realising just how rare it was.

Think I can live with rare locos - I am sure they work for collectors, but vans? BTW, I inherited the H&B van too - in Birds Eye livery? - although it is now bauxite with a BR "E prefix" to justify its continued existence.  

[Il Grifone]

Choosing rare prototypes is nothing new (and it's still going on—P2, DP2, Falcon, GT3...) and Triang had form as far as wagons are concerned—the original vent van in their range was based on an H&BR prototype. Perhaps they may have modelled this van without realising just how rare it was.

 

They probably lifted it from the Roche book of wagon drawings, like I did with my scatchbuilt version. Mine had flush matchboarding and when (shortly afterwards, of course) Hornby's version appeared, I assumed they knew better and scrapped it. Of course, they were wrong*! I have a plan involving inserting flush panels from another van but it looks like too much hassle. It is actually a refrigerator van, though there was a similar van design.

 

*Their lettering was much better than mine!

 

This van is not unreasonable apart from the length and crude opening doors.

 

I am stretching a later Hornby VANWIDE body to fit the correct 17' 6" underframe. Another job that is probably not worth the hassle. At the moment it's been put to one side awaiting further inspiration.

 

It's a pity the original Tri-ang underframe (ex-Trackmaster) was 16' over headstocks (correct for the L&Y inspired* van body that sat on it). It would have saved a long series of underlength wagons. When in their wisdom they raised the buffer height by 2mm it made them look ridiculous.

 

* It looks like an L & Y Diagram 3 IMHO.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Il Grifone

[Fat Controller]

There were a handful of these vans, intended for the 'brocolli' traffic from Cornwall- 'brocolli' was the name applied to cauliflowers, and not the green stuff. Marazion was one of several locations that had loading platforms for the stuff. Alas, the Hornby model was too short, too high, and with incorrect roof profile and brakegear. If anyone is tempted to build something a bit closer, then the Parkside Vanwide provides a basis, requiring the end vent to be omitted and the side vents to be made from Plasticard with framing from plastic rod. For some reason, the more unusual vehicles have always been popular with manufacturers; there are both Hornby-Dublo and Hornby versions of the Prestwin (20 built in the short-wheelbase form), along with the various chemical tanks modelled by both Triang and Hornby Dublo.

[brossard]

Agree with Giz in that the body is probably 4mm shorter than it should be.  This is a common "feature" of older Hornby product as I've found.

 

I was going to suggest that you research the body to see if it is at all accurate.  However if it is short, there is nothing to be done.  The Parkside LMS/BR 10' WB underframe would be a good upgrade for an accurate length body.

 

I've done a fair few upgrades of older models to bring them up to date, but this is really only feasible if there is no modern RTR model available.  Time is too precious to be wasting it on lost causes.

 

John

Edited December 3, 2018 by brossard

[Dunsignalling]

Also, IIRC, the wheelbase of the standard Tri-ang chassis scaled out at 9' 6", a length on which BR built precisely zero vans, and which seems to have most commonly featured under ancient tank wagons.

 

Equally wrong for 9' or 10' wheelbase, and a scale six inches too high into the bargain.

 

If you want a Vanwide, there's a perfectly good Parkside kit that can be built, painted and running in a quarter of the time, and involve far less skill, than it will take to bodge this museum piece into even vaguely resembling one. 

 

John

Edited December 3, 2018 by Dunsignalling

[Il Grifone]

Also, IIRC, the wheelbase of the standard Tri-ang chassis scaled out at 9' 6", a length on which BR built precisely zero vans, and which seems to have most commonly featured under ancient tank wagons.

 

Equally wrong for 9' or 10' wheelbase, and a scale six inches too high into the bargain.

 

If you want a Vanwide, there's a perfectly good Parkside kit that can be built, painted and running in a quarter of the time, and involve far less skill, than it will take to bodge this museum piece into even vaguely resembling one. 

 

John

 

That's true. There were very few designs with a 9' 6" wheebase There was A Rhymney 'Loco Coal' wagon IIRC.

 

I agree about the Parkside kit. My efforts with the Hornby VANWIDE were basically because I already had it (must have been part of a job lot) and I hate waste.

[Ravenser]

Perhaps the best use for the body would be suitably weathered, in the corner of a field, partly covered by ivy/creeper

[HonestTom]

You could maybe bodge it into a freelance van by putting it on a more modern chassis - the chassis that Hornby used under their old 5-planks like the Pounsbury, Crook & Greenway and Thomas the Tank Engine open wagons will fit.

 

I don't know why, but I quite like these vans. I know they don't look like anything that ever ran, and I'd never put them in a train with modern stock, but I think there's something oddly cute about them.