Fruit Ds on Southern metals

[Guest Jack Benson]

Our interests span both the SDJR and BR(S), amongst our meagre collection of images was a Fruit D running on the SDJR in the 50s. No more than a couple of images, possibly the same vehicle running on the Dorset Central south of Templecombe.

Were Fruit Ds rare visitors to other metals off the Western during the 50s before Western Region took over former Southern lines? We doubt whether they strayed far off the reservation but none of us are Western aficionados.

 

Thanks for your help

 

 

 

[gwrrob]

I would say so as they could be used in inter-regional parcels trains much like the SR van C's and PLV's were used on Western metals.

[The Johnster]

Most NPCCS that was not in dedicated circuit working was pooled on Nationalisation and pretty much any type could be seen anywhere in the country fairly shortly after that, so there would be no reason you wouldn't have seen a Fruit D, or a Gresley panelled BG, or a Thomposn BY on the S & DJ, or the Oban extension, or anywhere else by the 50s.  This is one of the reasons that modelling parcels trains during this sort of period and up to the mid 70s is such a worthwhile exercise; a tremendous variety of vehicles could and would be seen in one train.  A good number of pre-grouping types survived into the early 50s.  Check out 'Modelling Parcels Trains' in 'Musings and Miscellany'; there are many photos showing parcels trains from this period where no two vehicles in a 15 van train are the same.  The most common single type in early BR days seems to have been the Southern designed 'PLV' 4 wheeler, which was still being built at Ashford by BR up to the mid 50s.

 

Fruit D's were fairly recent at the time, introduced in 1938 with most being built by BR.  Parkside supply their kits with large G W transfers, but the vans never carried these in reality.  It is unlikely that any carried the post 1942 austerity livery, as they were recently built and would have survived with their shirtbutton roundels until nationalisation.  A difference between GW and BR builds was that the GW Fruit Ds were gas lit, and BR ones electric.

 

 The model in your photo (Dapol?) should be re-lettered in yellow lettering; white is for freight stock and the Fruit D's were passenger rated.  They also had steam heating so could be marshalled at the head of a passenger train during the heating season.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Thank you for your responses, we had previously looked at Dave Barlett’s photo albums to ascertain where his images originated and to understand the myriad in variations of liveries. The fact that our Dapol Fruit D has both white and yellow lettering is indicative of those variations however in reality that is how it arrived from Dapol. Our layout is BR (S) but we are attempting to represent a wide variety of rolling stock as reality dictated rather than restrict ourselves to parochial prototypes, the next NPCC will be a Gresley full brake as noted on both the SDJR and the South West mainline.

 

 Cheers

[bécasse]

Fruit Ds were fairly uncommon on the Southern as the staff on the Region much preferred the Southern's own "U-vans". One major problem, however, being that so did everyone else, and so it was quite difficult to keep them from wandering. It perhaps isn't surprising that they continued to be built new over some four decades having originated as a SE&CR design before the Great War.

[Fat Controller]

Curiously, the last workings of Fruit Ds for revenue earning traffic seem to have been on former L&SWR lines between Exeter St David's and Barnstaple Junction. They lasted on this into the mid-1970s, albeit carrying 'Departmental' numbers, presumably to stop them being 'borrowed'.

[hmrspaul]

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/fruitd

 

Paul

[The Johnster]

On 23/04/2020 at 10:41, bécasse said:

Fruit Ds were fairly uncommon on the Southern as the staff on the Region much preferred the Southern's own "U-vans". One major problem, however, being that so did everyone else, and so it was quite difficult to keep them from wandering. It perhaps isn't surprising that they continued to be built new over some four decades having originated as a SE&CR design before the Great War.

I'm not letting that go unchallenged!  The Southern's Ashford vans were produced in great quantity and got everywhere, but the Fruit D was a more modern design and the BR built ones had electric lighting.  They were designed for a different purpose and better ventilated than the Ashfords, though were utilised for normal parcels traffic when there was no fruit to be carried.  As I have previously stated, NPCCS that was not in circuit working was pooled by BR immediately, 1/1/1948, so the Southern couldn't have stopped the vans from wandering even if they'd wanted to except by branding them for circuit working, same as everyone else.  Ashfords weren't preferred, but there was always one on hand.

 

The Western Region was building large prairies to a Churchward design up to 1950, that's 5 decades and the 82xxx that replaced them were nowhere near as good.

 

On 23/04/2020 at 10:55, Fat Controller said:

Curiously, the last workings of Fruit Ds for revenue earning traffic seem to have been on former L&SWR lines between Exeter St David's and Barnstaple Junction. They lasted on this into the mid-1970s, albeit carrying 'Departmental' numbers, presumably to stop them being 'borrowed'.

The last ones I remember in service, at about this time, were the Canton dmu Enparts vans.  What was the Barnstaple traffic, just out of interest?

[Fat Controller]

24 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I'm not letting that go unchallenged!  The Southern's Ashford vans were produced in great quantity and got everywhere, but the Fruit D was a more modern design and the BR built ones had electric lighting.  They were designed for a different purpose and better ventilated than the Ashfords, though were utilised for normal parcels traffic when there was no fruit to be carried.  As I have previously stated, NPCCS that was not in circuit working was pooled by BR immediately, 1/1/1948, so the Southern couldn't have stopped the vans from wandering even if they'd wanted to except by branding them for circuit working, same as everyone else.  Ashfords weren't preferred, but there was always one on hand.

 

The Western Region was building large prairies to a Churchward design up to 1950, that's 5 decades and the 82xxx that replaced them were nowhere near as good.

 

The last ones I remember in service, at about this time, were the Canton dmu Enparts vans.  What was the Barnstaple traffic, just out of interest?

I think it was papers, periodicals and parcels; quite why they hung on to them for that, I don't know.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Just spotted this image at Crewkerne, a cheeky Fruit D, just peeking into the shot of 34059 "Sir Archibald Sinclair"

 

 

image courtesy of Friends of Crewkerne Station.
 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Jack Benson
Forgot the acknowledgment

[bécasse]

Interesting that it is boarded "Return to Old Oak Common", clearly someone thought that routing it via Waterloo was the only reliable way of getting  it there!