Graham Farish N 374-643 BR MK 1 CCT BR Re-Railing Yellow with Black Hatch Line
New model announced 2015
The Covered Carriage Truck (CCT) is a wagon type dating back to the early days of railways when the gentry would take their horses and carriage with them by train. The designation was perpetuated to describe a long 4-wheel van with end doors and suitable for travel at passenger train speeds. These very flexible, the end doors permitted large items and road vehicles to be loaded with ease, while side doors allowed the vans to be used in general express parcels service.
British Railways built a sizable fleet of these 4-wheel CCT vans in the 1950s to replace the eclectic range of vehicles of pre-nationalisation and often pre-grouping origin with a standard design. BR CCTs could be found on many parcels services until the mid 1980s, when the 4-wheel vans were high on the hit-list for withdraw as BRs share of the mail and parcels business began to decline.
This model is painted in the BR engineers yellow livery with black hatch line, as applied to many vehicles allocated to breakdown train service. CCTs were often used to carry basic re-railing equipment like traversing jacks and railing frogs and packing timbers for dealing with minor derailments in yards.
Eras 7-8 1972-1994