GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - Grouping Period Rolling Stock: gwrbsh3062

GWR four wheeled ten ton Fish Van being unloaded in Bay Platform 3 at Birmingham Snow Hill in July 1947

Great Western Railway four wheeled ten ton Fish Van (telegraphic code Bloater) No 2207 to diagram S8, seen unloaded in Bay Platform 3 at Birmingham Snow Hill in July 1947..

Seventy-five of these Fish Vans were built at Swindon Works between February 1916 and May 1919 to diagram S8 on carriage lot 1258. These diagram S8 vans and subsequent variants (S9-11) were all twenty-eight feet, six inches long with an eighteen foot wheelbase. They had three sliding double doors on each side. There were multiple slots for ventilation along the top and bottom of the sides and ends, although the amount of ventilation was gradually reduced in the later diagrams. The floor was protected initially by an asphalt layer, but after 1921 was constructed from a ‘Decolite’ fireproof composite material. The vans all had through steam pipes, vacuum brakes, screw couplings and sprung rod (diagram S8) or self-contained (diagram S9-11) buffers. The vans in lots 1259 and 1272 were initially dual braked (telegraphic code Bloater A), but the Westinghouse brake was subsequently removed between 1930 and 1935. All except the first lot had six shell vents fitted in the roof, but these were retrofitted to all the vans around 1924. The following table lists all the twenty-eight feet, six inch long Great Western Railway Fish Vans:

Lot	Diagram	Date completed	Quantity	Running numbers	Comments
258	S8	May 1919	75	2139 to 2213
1259	S8/S9	May 1920	25	2114 to 2138	Dual Braked
1271	S9	January 1922	40	2214 to 2253
1272	S9	March 1922	14	2254 to 2267	Dual Braked
1307	S9	December 1922	50	2268 to 2288 and 2601 to 2629
1356	S10	August 1926	50	2650 to 2699
1381	S11	July 1926	50	2700 to 2749	Built by MC&WC

Classified as non-passenger coach ‘brown’ stock, the livery of these Fish Vans was all-over brown with yellow ochre lettering. The large ‘G’ and ‘W’ on the side panels was replaced in 1934 with the GWR totem emblem seen here. The XP mark was used to identify four wheeled vehicles that could travel in express trains. From 1935 fish traffic declined and twenty-five of these vans were converted to Parcel Vans and loaned to the Traffic Department. A further fifty of these vans were also temporarily turned over to Parcels traffic during the Second World War.

This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the link HERE, quoting 'ABW210' (Photographer P Garland).

Robert Ferris

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