Vintage Van Identification

[Mike_Walker]

This van is currently at Wallingford.  Can anyone identify its origins?

 

It is believed to have last served with the Royal Navy at Gosport but does anyone have any idea of who built it an for who?  The axleboxes have G W Co. on them.

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[Darryl Tooley]

LNWR design, I should have thought.  Here's a very close relative:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124446949@N06/49257033346

 

 

D

[Wickham Green too]

Looks like an L.N.W.R. design .......... the military were good at swapping wheelsets, axleboxes and anything else removable so they're not a reliable guide.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

The wheels look a tad American?

 

Mike.

[petethemole]

A very similar van is covered in this thread:

So it is probably a LNWR design built for the Admiralty/RN

[Johann Marsbar]

Would appear to be this one.....

http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/WagonInfo.asp?Ref=15862

[jim.snowdon]

It's generally to the LNWR design, but not built for the LNWR - the different buffers give that away. If the wheels and axleboxes are original, the customer was almost certainly the War Department.

 

[sir douglas]

if this is one of the WD version, the wheels could have come from one of the many american wagons used by the british in both wars

[Wickham Green too]

A different L.N.W.R. van - presumably different 'cos Ludgershall's a long way from Gosport - but the same type of wheels !

 

 

....... JUST illegible - Damn !

[Compound2632]

So did the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co build a batch of these LNWR D88 look-alikes for the War Department?

[Wickham Green too]

14 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

So did the Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co build a batch of these LNWR D88 look-alikes for the War Department?

The one in the second post was built by Birmingham ....... would the W.D. have needed enough vans to buy from two builders or are the 'boxes swapsies ?

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

The one in the second post was built by Birmingham ....... would the W.D. have needed enough vans to buy from two builders or are the 'boxes swapsies ?

I think it's highly likely that batches were built by several builders. The long-wheelbase outside-framed vans, some of which were subsequently used for Belgian train ferry traffic, were built by the railway workshops at Derby and Lancing, and also by Pickering, Birmingham RC&W Co., and Midland RC&W Co. Derby also supplied converted 5-plank opens with lids, as did some other works. So overall the WD had a lot of rolling stock - probably several thousands of wagons, if not more.

[hmrspaul]

Just an idea of numbers of stock can be gleaned from the LMS wagons built on the frames from some of the WD stock - 187 Long Lows to diag. 1680, a single Tube and 201 diag 2029 Double Bolsters. They have unusual features such as 12ft. 3in. wheelbase, unusual buffers and long legged W irons https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/lmsww1longlow/e36028481

 

Paul

[PatB]

On 02/07/2021 at 03:50, Wickham Green too said:

The one in the second post was built by Birmingham ....... would the W.D. have needed enough vans to buy from two builders or are the 'boxes swapsies ?

Given that the photo linked upthread is dated 1917, I suspect the WD would have been requiring a vast number of vans at the time, and, given the strictures of wartime production, the wagon builders' production capacity may well have been limited. I think it's quite plausible that the WD may have needed to go to 2 builders. Not saying they did, just that it's plausible.

[kevinlms]

6 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Just an idea of numbers of stock can be gleaned from the LMS wagons built on the frames from some of the WD stock - 187 Long Lows to diag. 1680, a single Tube and 201 diag 2029 Double Bolsters. They have unusual features such as 12ft. 3in. wheelbase, unusual buffers and long legged W irons https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/lmsww1longlow/e36028481

 

Paul

That is a long life time for these wagons, well parts thereof. Lasting from 1917 to 1994 at least.