Pre 1968 Fertiliser Traffic

[finelines]

What did they use for fertiliser traffic before the "Lima" PWAs were introduced?

 

Roger

[Boris]

Well some pre-grouping companies had a horseshit wagon design.

 

Seriously though amongst other things standard 12 ton covered vans, nicely modelable because the manufacturers would often stick a poster to the side of the van to advertise the contents.  There is even a company that produces the posters as transfers but I can't for the life of me remember who they are.

[Fat Controller]

Well some pre-grouping companies had a horseshit wagon design.

 

Seriously though amongst other things standard 12 ton covered vans, nicely modelable because the manufacturers would often stick a poster to the side of the van to advertise the contents.  There is even a company that produces the posters as transfers but I can't for the life of me remember who they are.

You only have to 'Hollar'....http://www.parksidedundas.co.uk/acatalog/HOLLAR_MODELS.html 

Don't forget that Shellstar, which later became UKF, were only one player in the UK fertiliser market; amongst the others were ICI (plants at Haverton Hill,  Teesside and Severn Beach, Severnside) and Scottish Agricultural Industries (Leith)

BR kept huge lines of Vanfits at locations such as Whitemoor, Marshmoor and Severn Beach to cover seasonal agricultural traffic. Until about 1971, they'd be a real mixture of 10t and 12t vans, both from BR itself (the 10t vans would have been displaced insulated and fresh Meat vans) and all the Big Four. After 1971, the older stock seemed to disappear, and BR Vanfits ruled the roost. Fertiliser/ basic slag traffic tended to run in autumn, and more usually, spring; autumn would see trainloads of 'Beet Nuts' and other animal feeds.

[Boris]

Great, I wasn't too far off the mark then, BTW, there's a typo in your link, this is the corrected one:

 

http://www.parksidedundas.co.uk/acatalog/HOLLAR_MODELS.html

[hmrspaul]

Another source is Sankey models http://www.sankeyscenics.co.uk/#/about/4551052547  They have variety on a sheet.

 

Fisons basic slag on a Meat van http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brmeatvan/e31b6bf19

 

And a BR van written for ICI Fertiliser http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/letteringplates/e1f5dd0b8

 

Paul

[Simon Lee]

 

I worked at Hull Central goods depot in 1974 and remember loading Vanfits with bagged fertiliser majority of the traffic went to Haverfordwest.

 

Only oddity I recall was a Banana van which arrived loaded with rolls of loft insulation and we back loaded with fertiliser.

 

Regards

Simon